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PRIZE ESSAY. 



CANADA, AND HER RESOURCES: 

AN ESSAY, 



TO WHICH, UPON A REFERENCE EROM THE PARIS EXHIBITION 
COMMITTEE OF CANADA, WAS AWARDED, BY 



HIS EXCELLENCY SIR EDMUND WALKER HEAD, Bart., 

GOVERNOR GENERAL OE BRITISH 2TOBTH AMEEICA, 
ETC., ETC., ETC., 



THE SECOND PRIZE. 



BY ALEXANDER^MORRIS, A. M., 



BARRISTEE-AT-LAW. 



SECOND EDITION. 



"VIRTUTE ET LABORE,' 
"DUM SPIRO, SPERO," 




MONTREAL: 

B. DAWSON, No. 23 GREAT ST. JAMES STREET ; 

LONDON: 

SAMPSON LOW, SON & Co., 47 LUDGATE HILL. 

1855. 



lOOg 



jjlontteal ; 

'PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 



A, 



PREFACE. 



The writer, in submitting this Essay to the atten- 
tion of his readers, disclaims all pretension to 
originality. His labour has been the plodding 
one of a compiler, and thus he has availed him- 
self liberally of the resources within his reach. 
Keeping in view the desiderata of "practical 
utility and comprehensiveness, combined with 
conciseness," his sole object has been to produce 
a Treatise characterised by these features, and 
thereby to contribute his mite to the advance- 
ment of his native country. He therefore dedi- 
cates this Essay to The People of Canada, in 
the hope that the ensuing pages may be found 
to contain reliable information with regard to 
the resources and present position of the Pro- 
vince, and prove of permanent utility " for pur- 
poses of reference." 

Montreal, May, 1855. 



" It is scarcely possible that an Englishman of sensibility and 
imagination should look without pleasure and national pride on 
the vigorous and splendid youth of " (a colony which is destined 
yet to be) " a great people, whose veins are filled with our blood, 
whose minds are nourished with our literature, and on whom is 
entailed the rich inheritance of our civilization, our freedom, and 
our glory." — Macaulay. 



INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Introduction. — Plan of this Treatise, 7 

Geological Structure — Chapter I, 8 

Preliminary Outline, 8 

"Western Geological Division of Canada, 9 

Eastern do. do. do 19 

Northern do. do. do 20 

Geographical Features — Chapter II, 22 

Boundaries of whole Province, 22 

The Magdalen Islands — Anticosti, „ 23 

Natural Divisions of Lower Canada — the Ottawa Country — the 

Eastern Townships, &c, &c, 23 

Natural Divisions of Upper Canada, 34 

River St. Lawrence,. 38 

The Lakes 38 

Natural Products — Chapter ILT, 40 

The Forest, 40 

Mines and Minerals, 42 

The Fisheries, 46 

Agricultural Produce, 47 

Growth of Flax and Hemp, 48 

Manufactures — Chapter IV, 49 

Commerce: — Chapter V, 61 

General Commerce, , 52 

Trade with United States — its progress, 55 

The Reciprocity Treaty, and its features, 55 

Intercolonial Trade — its position — suggestions as to its extension, ... 57 

The Canadian Passenger Route, 58 

Ocean Steamers 60 

Canals of Canada, , 61 

The Railway System, 63 

The Grand Trunk Railway 64 

The Great Western Railway, 66 

Other Railways, 68 



i 



Tl INDEX. 

AGE. 

Social Institutions — Chapter VI„ 76 

The Municipal System, 71 

The Municipal Loan Fund, 73 

General Legislation, 74 

The Postal System " . . . % 

The Legal and Judicial Systems, 75 

The Banking System, 78 

The Press, 81 

Educational Institutions — Chapter VII, . . . 83 

University and Colleges of Upper Canada, 83 

The Normal Schools do do 84 

The Grammar Schools do do 85 

The Common Schools do do 86 

Other Colleges do do 91 

The School System of Lower Canada, 92 

Political Institutions — Chapter VIII, 94 

Statistics, illustrative of the progress and position of Canada — 

Chapter IX, 98 

Population — its increase, . , 98 

Emigration, 100 

Rise of Towns, ' 101 

Population by origin 102 

Religious Census — number of Churches, 103 

Area of Canada, 103 

Agricultural Produce, and contrast therein between Canada and Ohio, 104 

Revenue and Expenditure, 106 

Public Securities 107 

Public Debt of the Province, 108 

The Climate of Canada — Chapter X, 109 

Climate of Canada West, 1(9 

" Lower Canada, 112 

Prevailing Winds, , 113 

Longevity in Canada, 114 

Concluding Remarks, 114 

Appendix, , , 115 






CANADA AND HEE RESOURCES. 



" Canada, the brightest jewel of the British Crown. 



The Province of Canada is attracting increased and deservedly 
merited attention. Her resources have of late years been rapidly 
developing, and the growth of her population is steadily and 
annually augmenting. A bright future is opening out to her, and 
her progress, agricultural, commercial and industrial, cannot fail 
to be much accelerated, so soon as the people of Great Britain 
and of Europe come to be aware of the many advantages which 
are held out to intending emigrants by this important dependency 
of the British Crown. 

No country in the world, — we boldly aver it, — offers a more 
desirable residence than Canada, for her attractions consist not 
only in every material comfort, but also in the gift of political 
liberty and educational advantages to all her inhabitants ; and these 
attractions are held out, not merely to that class of emigrants who 
have some small means, or to that other class who are possessed 
of comparatively greater means, but to whom increasing families 
and the keen competition of the old world make a change to the 
new desirable, but also to the industrious mechanic, to the hardy 
agriculturist, and, in fact, to all classes of settlers. 

That such is undoubtedly the case, the following rapid review 
of her position and resources, however necessarily imperfect, will 
abundantly demonstrate. 

In endeavoring, therefore, to treat the subject in a systematic 
and concise manner, and yet to present some adequate idea of the 
Province of Canada and her resources, I now proceed preliminarily 
to describe the geological structure of the Province, — a subject 



8 CANADA. 

which, however interesting to the scientific inquirer, will not pro- 
bably attract the attention of the general reader. I will then trace 
in as brief a manner as is consistent with the magnitude of the 
subject, the geographical outline of the country, exhibiting also 
its various natural divisions ; after which the reader will be directed 
in successive chapters to a consideration of the natural productions, 
the manufactures, the commerce, and the social, educational and 
political institutions of the Province. A chapter will then be 
devoted to presenting such statistical information as may not have 
been necessarily interspersed throughout other portions of the 
work, and a closing chapter will be devoted to the removing of 
certain prejudices which exist with regard to the climate of Canada, 



CHAPTER L* 
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 
To obtain a correct view of the Geological features of the Pro- 
vince of Canada it must be regarded as connected with the physical 
structure of the bordering States of the American LTnion on the 
one hand, and with that of the sister British North American 
Colonies on the other hand. It will, therefore, be convenient to 
divide the subject in the first place into two great sections, and 
drawing a line in continuation of the Hudson River and Lake 
Champlain Valleys to the vicinity of Quebec, to consider the area 
to the west of it separately from that on the south of the St. 
Lawrence to the east, in consequence of important differences in 
their Geological conditions, each area belonging to a great triangle 
of fossiliferous strata, resting on supposed primary rocks, and con- 
taining coal measures in the centre ; but in neither case is it 
believed that these measures, at least as regards the profitable 
portion of them, come within the Province. The conditions in 
which these two great areas differ are the general quiescence and 
conformable sequence of the formations of the western division, 
and the violent conditions and unconformable relations prevailiDg 
among those of the eastern. To obtain, however, a complete and 
exhaustive view of the subject, a third great section must be 
included, comprehending what may be termed Northern Canada, 

* This chapter is chiefly condensed and compiled from the very valuable 
Reports of the Provincial Geologist, "W. E. Logan, Esq., F. R. S. 






CANADA. y 

THE WESTERN DIVISION. 

In illustrating the general relations of the rock formations of 
the Province, the great area in which the western division is in- 
eluded, as connected with the Geology of Canada, may be described 
as a gigantic trough of fossiliferous strata, conformable from the 
summit of the coal to the bottom of the very lowest formations, 
containing organic remains, with a transverse axis reaching from 
the Wisconsin River and Green Bay, in Lake Michigan, to the 
neighbourhood of Washington, a distance of nearly 700 miles, and 
a longitudinal one extending from Quebec in a south-westerly 
direction to some point beyond the Tenessee River in Alabama. 
Contained within this vast trough, and resulting from gentle 
nndulations in the strata, there are three important subordinate 
basins, the centre of each of which spreads out in a gigantic coal 
field. One of these extends in length from the County of Logan, 
on the southern borders of Kentucky, in a north-westerly direction 
to the Rock River in Illinois, where it falls into the Mississippi, a 
distance of 360 miles, and in breadth from the mouth of the Mis- 
souri to the County of Tippecanoe, on the Wabash in Indiana, 
200 miles. 

Presenting an oval form, this coal field covers 55,000 square 
miles. The second occupies the heart of the State of Michigan, 
and reaching 100 miles in an east and west direction, from within 
13 leagues of the lake of that name, to Saginaw Bay in Lake 
Huron, and 150 miles in a north and south line from the neigh- 
bourhood of the Rivers Manistee and Ausable, it exhibits an 
irregular pentagonal shape, and comprises a superficies of 12,000 
square miles. The third carboniferous area stretches longitudin- 
ally about 600 miles in a north-easterly course, from the State of 
Tennessee to the north-eastern corner of Pennsylvania, where many 
outlying patches belong to it, and 170 miles transversely from the 
north branch of the Potomac in Maryland, to the south-eastern 
corner of Summit County in Ohio, 12 leagues south of Cleve- 
land on Lake Erie. It comprises 60,000 square miles, and pos- 
sesses a sinuous subrhomboidal form. The main trunk of the 
Ohio serpentines through the upper portion of this region for about 
400 miles of the upper part of its course. The Susquehanna and 
its tributaries intersect the north-eastern extremity of the deposit, 
and the valleys of denudation in which these waters flow, assisting 
the effect of a series of nearly equidistant undulations in the strata, 

s 



10 CANADA, 

there break its continuity into the outliers alluded to, which gener- 
ally rest on mountain tops in the interrupted prolongation of a 
number of narrow subsidiary troughs, resulting from the undula- 
tions in question, and giving an irregular deeply indented contour 
to the outcrop of the main body of the coal. The chief part of the 
outliers, and the main body of the deposit, yield bituminous fuel, 
as well as the other two great coal fields described ; but to the 
east of the Susquehanna, three large outliers yield anthracite coaL 

The undulations which have been mentioned constitute an im- 
portant feature in the structure of the country between the St. 
Lawrence and the Atlantic. Three ridges, preserving a remark- 
able degree of parallelism, have been traced for vast distancesj 
ranging in a sinuous south-westerly course from Lower Canada 
to Alabama. 

From beneath the three great coal fields which have been men- 
tioned the subjacent formations crop out in succession, surround- 
ing their carboniferous nuclei with rudely concentric belts, of 
greater or less breadth, according to the thickness or dip of the 
deposit, and taking a wider sweep as they descend in the order of 
superposition, while they conform, at the same time, in their 
superficial distribution, to all the sinuosities and irregularities 
occasioned by geographical and geological undulations. The 
organic remains of these rocks proclaim them to be contempora- 
neous with the Silurian and Devonian epochs of Europe, including 
the old red sandstone. These fossiliferous formations, wherever 
they have been found in actual contact with the rocks beneath, 
rest upon masses of the primary order. "Without entering upon 
the question of whether there be evidence of non-fossiliferous 
sedimentary strata, it will be sufficient for our present purpose to 
unite all the subjacent rocks, whether metamorphic or primary, 
and to class them under the latter denomination. 

The lowest of the fossiliferous strata is a sandstone of variable 
quality, more purely silicious towards the bottom, and calciferous 
towards the top, which gives support to a thick and remarkably 
persistent deposit of limestone, strongly distinguished by its or- 
ganic remains. This limestone thus becomes an admirable means 
of tracing out the perimeter of the great western area under con- 
sideration. From the north-west border of North Carolina it 
sweeps in a broad belt across Virginia to the junction of the 
Shenandoah and Potomac. Thence, traversing Maryland, it 



CANADA. 



11 



passes through Pennsylvania, by Harrisburg on the Susquehanna, 
and Belvidere on the Delaware, accompanied up to this point by 
the underlying sandstone. Diminished in its thickness it thence 
crosses New Jersey, and reaching Poughkeepsie it passes up the 
valley of the Hudson and Champlain, keeping to the east by the 
river and the lake, and attains the neighbourhood of Missisquoi 
Bay. Entering Canada it proceeds towards Quebec, and reaches 
the vicinity of that fortress; and a stratified limestone answering 
its condition is quarried and burned in the Seigniory of St. 
Hyacinthe. As Quebec itself does not stand upon the formation, 
it probably crosses the St. Lawrence higher up the stream ; but 
it may be seen in the quarries of Beauport, and further down the 
river, and its limit in that direction is to be found near Cape 
Tourment, where the underlying primary rocks come to the 
water's edge. Turning at this point, and following the northern 
outcrop of the deposit up the valley of the St. Lawrence, it is found 
to run along the foot of a range of syenitic hills of a gneissoid 
order, which preserve a very even and direct south-westerly course, 
and down the flank of which the various tributaries of the great 
river are successively precipitated in rapids and cascades. On 
the Maskinonge the syenitic range is about twelve miles in a 
direct line from the St. Lawrence, on the Achigan about twenty, 
and it strikes the Riviere du Nord about half a mile south of the 
Village of St. Jerome. Following this stream, the primary rocks, 
which are close upon its northern bank, gradually assume a course 
with less of southing in it, until they reach Lachute Mills, where 
their direction becomes nearly due east. Along this line, from 
Cape Tourment, the basset edge of the limestone does not in all 
cases come quite up to the primary rock. There is, occasionally 
a space left between the two for the sandstone beneath, and on 
the Riviere du Ford the calciferous part of this rock, capped by 
the limestone, is seen in several places in a well defined escarpment 
about half a mile from the syenitic range, dipping southward at 
an angle of six degrees, which is probably one or two more than 
the average inclination along the strike of the northern outcrop 
thus far traced. 

Leaving the Riviere du Nord at Lachute Mills the edge of the 
fossiliferous strata, still well defined by the rise of the primary 
rocks from below them, crosses the Township of Chatham, pursu- 
ing a direct course to Grenville on the Ottawa, where the calca- 



12 



CANADA. 



reous deposit is seen at the upper end of the canal. A little above 
the village the primary range comes upon the river, which may 
correctly be considered the general division between the two, until 
we attain the Township of Hull. A bend in the Ottawa there, 
cutting deep into the limestone, leaves four or five miles t^readth 
of it on its left bank, and the formation displayed in lofty preci- 
pices in the neighbourhood of Bytown affords the magnificent 
scenery of the Chaudiere Falls. It reaches, it is understood, the 
Island of Allumettes, and thence, turning southward, runs through 
the Townships of Pakenham, Ramsay and Drummond, crosses 
the Rideau Canal and Rideau Lake in Elmsley, where, with the 
subjacent sandstone, it is seen in section at the Upper Narrows, 
resting on the primary rocks, and dipping to the north of east at 
an angle of four degrees ; and sweeping round the adjoining corner 
of Bastard and Yonge it traverses Elizabethtown, and reaches the 
St. Lawrence in the neighbourhood of Brockville. The limestone 
deposit, following the St. Lawrence down to St. Regis, has a wide 
spread of the sandstone coming from beneath on the United States 
side of the river, the lower edge of which passes by Canton, Hop- 
kins and Malone, to Chateauguay, in a line north of east. Here 
it makes a sudden turn to the south-east, and the limestone, 
sweeping round at its proportionate distance, comes upon the 
western shore of Lake Champlain, at the mouth of the Chateau- 
guay River, about five miles up which its base is seen. Running 
along the shore of the lake it reaches Peru, where the basset edges 
of both sedimentary deposits come close together. Following up 
the lake they attain Whitehall. They then bend round to the val- 
ley of the Mohawk, ascending which they arrive in the neighbour- 
hood of Trenton, where a grand display of the limestone in the falls 
of that name gives origin to the New York designation of the 
upper part of the deposit. From this the limestone gains the Black 
River, and follows down the whole of its course to Lake Ontario, of 
which it forms the coast, from Ellisburgh to a point below Cape St. 
Vincent. Again entering Canada, it composes Wolfe Island, and 
the upper part of Howe Island, and it is seen resting on the primary 
rocks in Cedar Island, without the interposition of the sandstone. 
Kingston stands upon the formation, ana the base of it, cropping 
out several miles to the north of the town, strikes away to the 
Townships of Madoc and Marmora, in each of which the primary 
rocks are seen giving it support near their respective iron works* 



CANADA. 13 

Then it runs to Rama on Lake Sinicoe, and sinks under the waters 
of Lake Huron in Georgian Bay. Between Kingston and Lake 
Huron the general dip of the formation is so small that it is next 
to impracticable to measure it. The breadth of the band it pre- 
sents is consequently considerable, thirty-five miles being the 
measure from the base at Marmora to its summit at Newcastle on 
Lake Ontario. The north-eastern and northern shores of Lake 
Huron are described by Dr. Bigsby as presenting a primary country , 
and they may be taken as the boundary of the sedimentary deposit 
we are following, from the point where it is lost beneath the 
waters of Georgian Bay, until it re-appears at St. Mary's Falls, 
at the exit of Lake Superior, where the Michigan geologists des- 
cribe a limestone apparently answering its conditions. Thence it 
reaches Green Bay on Lake Michigan, and proceeds to the Wis- 
consin River, following it down to its junction with the Mississippi. 

SERIES OF FOSSILIFEROUS DEPOSITS. 

Having thus traced, as far as necessary, the contour of the 
lowest deposits of the fossiliferous area under description, and 
having given the position and superficies of the coal-fields which 
spread out at the summit of the series, it will be understood that 
the whole of the space between the perimeter of the latter and 
the boundary of the former is occupied by the various belts or 
zones resulting from the outcrops of the successive formations. 
The lowest of these fossiliferous deposits is the sandstone already 
mentioned. It assumes various lithological appearances. At its 
base it is sometimes a quartz rock, hard and vitrious, and it 
frequently presents the appearance of a conglomerate, as at 
Gananoque. It is often an even-bedded, even-grained sandstone, 
yellowish brown and compact, or white and friable. But the 
typical quality of the whole mass, as seen at Potsdam in New 
York, where it is extensively quarried, is a yellowish brown sand- 
stone. It is said to contain few fossils. The total thickness of 
the formation is 300 feet. This silicious deposit passes into a 
sandstone of calciferous quality, which the geologists of Pennsyl- 
vania class with the former, but those of New York consider a 
distinct formation. It is in general a fine-grained arenaceous 
limestone, with some beds of a pure calcareous quality. Its thick 
ness is about 250 feet. To this succeeds the important calcareous 
deposit of which the course has been so extensively traced. The 



14 CANADA. 

lower part of this formation consists of a dark irregular limestone. 
It has a thickness of 130 feet, and upon it rests a dark blueish 
compact hard limestone, occasionally yielding marble. It has 
some drab colored beds, giving water lime. The thickness of this 
deposit may be about 140 feet. As well as the previous part, it is 
considered to possess peculiar fossils, and with it constitutes the 
New York inferior limestone formation. The superior formation 
is based in some parts upon a valuable ten feet bed of black marble, 
extensively worked on Lake Champlain, above which occur various 
strata of black limestone, alternating more or less with black bitu- 
minous shale, and associated in some places with one or two impor- 
tant bands of a grey colour, and of a more crystalline texture. This 
grey stone is extensively quarried at Montreal. At the top of the 
general deposit, which in New York is known as the Trenton 
limestone, the bituminous shale predominates over the limestone, 
and affords a passage to the succeeding formation. 

The next deposit in the order of superposition is the black bitu- 
minous shale, differing very little from the argillaceous part of the 
previous formation. In Upper Canada it may be seen at "Whitby, 
whence it has a run to N ottawasaga Bay, and in Lower Canada 
on the Montreal side of the St. Lawrence. It has distinctive 
fossils. It does not exceed 100 feet in thickness. 

Upon the preceding lies a deposit of thin grey sandstone strata 
alternating with fine easily disintegrating argillaceous shale beds 
of a greenish color. Occasionally there are variations in its litho- 
logical character, there being sometimes a band of red argilla- 
ceous and purple argillaceous shale, and above it a set of argil- 
laceous strata, composed of flattened laminated pieces, with a 
glossy black exterior. Its thickness may be estimated at 1400 
feet. 

The next superimposed deposit is a grey even-bedded sand- 
stone, of a rather fine-grained durable quality, used for building 
purposes. It has few fossils, and its thickness is about 100 feet. 

The total thickness of the rocks enumerated does not reach 2500 
feet. The summit of the formation last mentioned, after running up 
the south side of the Mohawk valley, gains the State of New York 
at Oswego. Thence, in a course parallel to the outcrops of the for- 
mations above it, it reaches Oakville near the head of Lake Ontario, 
from which point it bends round to Collingwood, on Nottawasaga 
Bay in Lake Huron. If a line, therefore, be drawn between 



CANADA. 15 

these two points, on the two lakes, it is probable, taking into con- 
sideration the extremely moderate dip and undisturbed condition 
of the strata, that no deposit higher in the series than the grey 
•sandstone will be found in any part of Canada between that line 
and Quebec. There are still to be interposed between the grey 
sandstone and the true coal measures a mass of strata equal at 
the lowest computation to between 4000 and 5000 feet, and we 
are therefore not warranted reasonably to anticipate the occur- 
rence of any part of the true coal measure in the district in 
question, — a conclusion which every day's experience is justifying. 

Continuing an enumeration of the formations in an ascending 
order of superposition, the next in succession to the grey sandstone 
is a variegated red and green, marly and shaly sandstone, of a 
crumbly nature, with which are associated some bands of quartzose 
grey sandstone. Brine springs issue from this formation, one of 
which exists at St. Catherines in Upper Canada, and is used for 
medicinal purposes, an Artesian well having been sunk into it. The 
thickness of this deposit is estimated at about 600 feet. 

Upon the preceding rests a set of strata consisting of bright 
green shales, associated with a partial bed of oolitic fossiliferous 
Iron ore, of which the greatest observed thickness in any place is 
two feet, and interstratified with two bands of more or less impure 
limestone, containing stratified organic remains. The thickness 
of the deposit may be estimated at 80 feet. 

The next formation consists of calcareo-argillaceous shale of a 
blueish color, abundantly fossiliferous, on which a few beds of sili- 
eio-argillaceous limestone constitute a passage into a strong cal- 
careous rock above. The lower part of this consists of a cemented, 
mass of broken encrinital columns, often beautifully variegated 
with red, to which succeeds a thick-bedded grey limestone, followed 
by one of a darker color, upon which rests a brownish bituminous 
limestone, sparry below, and marked by the presence of sulphurets 
of zinc and of lead above, and the whole is crowned by a set of 
slaty dark grey calcareous beds with mamillated surfaces separated 
by thin laminae of bituminous shale. It is over a slope and pre- 
cipice which presents the whole thickness of this limestone that 
the rapids and cataract of Niagara fall. It is said to be in the 
north-western development of the limestone of this Niagara group 
that the great lead mines of Wisconsin exist. 

We now come to a deposit of valuable economic character : in 



16 CANADA. 

the lower part it consists of variegated green-spotted red shales^ 
surmounted by greenish and drab-coloured slaty limestone strata, 
alternating with red shales, which are followed by brownish calcar 
reous and argillaceous shales, enclosing white and dark-coloured 
masses of gypsum, of which there appear to be two ranges capable 
of being profitably worked, separated from one another by a band 
of porous limestone. Cavities of great magnitude exist in the 
gypsiferous part of the deposit, and the whole is capped by calca- 
reous strata, fit for hydraulic cement. This formation is the seat 
of a number of valuable brine springs. The fossils of the forma- 
tion are not numerous, and its thickness is about TOO feet. 

This deposit, so valuable for its gypsum, salt and hydraulic 
lime, occupies a belt of country on the south side of Lake Ontario, 
and, passing into Canada across the Niagara River, occupies 
nearly all the neck of land separating Lake Ontario from Lake 
Erie. This whole assemblage of deposits skirts the shore of the 
former lake through Niagara County, and, attaining the extremity 
of it, the strike turns northward towards Cabot's Head on Lake 
Huron. On the east side of it is the red and green sandstone, 
and to the west will be the gypsiferous rocks, some of which are 
already worked for their plaster, on the Grand River, near the 
Town of Paris, U. C. In the general classification of the New- 
York system of formations these rocks are followed by five succes- 
sive deposits of limestone, which thin out before reaching Canada, 
their thickness being 200 feet. 

To these calcareous rocks succeed three deposits of a silicious 
character, of an average thickness in New York of 100 feet, 
which also thin out before reaching Canada. 

Resting on the sandstone in the eastern part of New York, and 
on the hydraulic limestone of the west, the next deposit in ascend- 
ing order is calcareous. It consists of beds of limestone of a light 
grey color. It yields a handsome variegated marble. The thick- 
ness is about TO feet. 

These united bands of limestone strike into Canada on the 
Niagara River, whence they run westward along the shore of 
Lake Erie for some distance. They are recognized again in Ohio 
and Michigan at the head of the lake, and they form a belt across 
the extremity of the southern peninsula of Michigan. In Canada 
patches of the immediately succeeding deposits may be found in. 
parts of the old Western District. The lowest of these is a black 



CANADA. IT 

bituminous shale. The thickness of this deposit is about 50 feet, 
and it passes into a dark shale of a more slaty character, and grad- 
ually passes into a stronger rock. This again becomes a blueish- 
grey calcareous shale at the top, and is followed by a thin band of 
encrinal limestone, to which succeeds a persistent greyish-blue 
marly rock. Its fossils are numerous, and its thickness, which 
diminishes from east to west from 1000 to 300 feet, may be stated 
at 500 feet. On the top of this group rests a bed of partial lime- 
stone : its greatest thickness on the south side of Lake Ontario is 
20 feet, and it dwindles down to nothing approaching Lake Erie. 
On the preceding limestone rests a deposit of deep black consist- 
tent fissile shales. Its thickness- varies from 150 feet to 25 feet, 
thinning westwardly. 

The next formation of the series consists of a group of rocks of 
a more or less arenaceous quality. The lowest of these is a green- 
ish argillo-arenaceous shale, which is followed by a developement 
of green and black arenaceous shales, interstratified with thin beds 
of sandstone. The total thickness of the formation is estimated a$ 
1000 feet. 

To this succeeds a mass of grey greenish-grey and olive flaggy 
sandstones interstratified with shales, sometimes running into an 
impure limestone. Towards the top the sandstone occasionally 
presents the character of a conglomerate. The thickness of the 
formation is 1500 feet. 

The next superimposed formation, where it is fully developed^ 
consists of sandstones, argillaceous and arenaceous shales, and 
impure arenaceous limestones and conglomerates. The general 
colour of the deposit is red. In the eastern part of New York, 
among the Catskill Mountains, the thickness of the formation is 
said to be little under 2500 feet, but it thins down to the west- 
ward, and on the south side of' Lake Erie it dies away altogether. 

Such is the general character of the various deposits which fill 
up the great trough under consideration, within which the west- 
ern section of Canada, as above delineated, is included. 

INFERIOR ROCKS. 

The general figure of the non-fossiliferous rocks upon which the- 
organic series rests may be inferred from the fossiliferous contour 
already described. In so far as Canada is concerned they consti- 
tute the whole of the northern parts of the Province, stretching- 



18 CANADA. 

from one extremity to the other. They compose the north shores 
of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, with the exception of the narrow 
strip of fossiliferous deposits between Cape Tourment and Gren- 
ville. They form the northern and eastern shores of Lake Supe- 
rior, and the northern coast of Lake Huron, and from between 
Malchadash Bay in the latter and Allumettes Island in the Ottawa 
they run into a south-eastern spur, which terminates in a huge 
mountainous peninsular mass lying between Lake Champlain and 
Lake Ontario, and joined to the primary body by the narrow 
Isthmus of the Thousand Islands. 

These rocks consist of talcose and other slates, quartz rock, gneiss, 
limestone, serpentine, granite, syenite, and their subordinate 
masses. The limestones and serpentines yield marbles of various 
beautiful descriptions. The feldspathic rocks, in their decomposi- 
tion, afford good porcelain clays. Copper ores are found in several 
localities, veins of lead appear, plumbago is abundantly developed, 
chromate of iron is known to exist, and the whole system appears 
to be associated with large and valuable supplies of the magnetic 
and specular oxides of iron. 

The extraordinary abundance in which these two latter ores are 
found render them very valuable in an economic point of view. 

At the summit of the rocks under description in the peninsula 
lying between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan an important 
collection of copper veins has been discovered. 

TERTIARY AND ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. 

Over many parts of the great area which has been described, 
whether primary or transitive, there is spread a more recent sedi- 
mentary deposit, still in a soft condition, and consisting of various 
beds of clay, sand and gravel. These beds are characterised, up 
to heights of 500 feet above the level of the ocean, by the frequent 
presence of marine shells of the same species as now inhabit the 
Gulf of the St. Lawrence, and northern seas. Fifteen species have 
been found at Port Keuf at the height of 300 feet, and five of the 
same species on the Montreal Mountain, at about 460 feet above 
•salt water level, while in various parts of the St. Lawrence and 
Champlain vallies such remains are found at more moderate eleva- 
tions. 

Still more recent than the tertiary deposits is the alluvial drift 
with which are associated boulders of igneous and other rocks. 



CANADA. 19 

with frequent extensive deposits of peat and fresh water shell marl, 
while bog iron ore is often met with in tracts sufficiently large and 
rich to give profitable employment to capital. Two of these beds 
are already worked. 

Such then is a general sketch of the main features of the physi- 
cal structure of the area with which the geology of that part of 
the Province west of Quebec is connected, chiefly as ascertained 
from the various surveys of the neighbouring States. 

This geological division of Canada may be defined as follows, 
viz : extending to the limits of the Province in an opposite direc- 
tion from the eastern division, and bounded on the north by a line 
skirting the St. Lawrence, the Ottawa, the Mattawa, Lake Nipissing, 
and the French River to Lake Huron, and thence along the 
northern shore of this lake to Sault St. Marie, on Lake Supe- 
rior, and spreading over 50,000 square miles. Of course, the limits 
of this treatise prevent the filling in of the sketch by the result 
of actual surveys ; but those who may desire to investigate the 
subject more fully are referred to the exceedingly valuable Reports 
of the Provincial Geologist, now about to be republished by the 
Legislature of Canada in a revised edition, and which present the 
results of much pains-taking labour and accurate scientific obser- 
vation. 



EASTERN DIVISION. 

This division includes all that part of the Province which lies 
to the eastward of the already assumed divisional line, and to the 
south of the St. Lawrence, including, however, the Island of Anti- 
costi, and covering a space of 40,000 square miles. 

Although the labours of Dr. Gesner in Nova Scotia and New 
Brunswick have done much to bring before the world some of 
the main features of the geology of the Lower Provinces, there is 
still much wanting to enable such inferences to be drawn as would 
materially assist the investigation of Eastern Canada. The State 
of Vermont has also not yet been examined, and the State of 
Maine only partially. 

In very general terms, therefore, the area to which Eastern 
Canada appertains may be described as a sedimentary trough, 
resting upon primary rocks, with a transverse axis reaching from 
Labrador in a south-east direction to the Atlantic Coast of Nova 



20 CANADA. 

Scotia, and a longitudinal one extending probably from the centre 
of Newfoundland to some uncertain point in the New England 
States of the American Union. The centre of it is occupied by a 
great coal field covering nearly the whole of New Brunswick and 
a considerable part of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island and the 
south-western corner of Newfoundland, while there is a large 
portion of it lost beneath the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It would be 
premature to assert or deny that rocks of more recent secondary 
age rest upon this, but the lower part of it appears to hold impor- 
tant deposits of gypsum. The carboniferous rocks are affected by 
disturbances on the south side of the trough in Nova Scotia, 
giving origin to undulations which are subordinate to its longi- 
tudinal axis, while they appear to have suffered less from such 
disturbances, either on the centre or on the north, where the 
coal measures, from Shediac to Miscou, have very moderate angles 
of inclination. Both on the south and on the north the coal for- 
mation seems to rest unconformably on the rocks below, and in 
these the flexures produced prior to the deposit of that formation 
are so violent that in many places the strata come against its base 
nearly at right angles : from which it results that the coal meas- 
ures rest sometimes upon the basset edges of the highest subjacent 
sedimentary deposits, and sometimes upon the granite, the carbo- 
niferous perimeter being no guide whatever to the geographical 
range of anything coming from beneath. The boundary of these 
lower formations in Canada is the north bank of the St. Lawrence 
from Labrador to Cape Tourment near Quebec ; but what their 
succession may be, and how far they agree in fossil, lithological or 
economical results, can only be determined after careful exami- 
nation. This examination is being steadily proceeded with, and 
surveys have been made of several sections of the eastern division , 
but as yet a connected view of the entire area cannot be presented. 



NORTHERN DIVISION. 

There still remains what may be termed Northern Canada, 
extending from the British limit on Lake Superior to Labrador, 
and lying between the northern boundary of the eastern and 
western divisions, and the height of land separating the Hudson 
Bay waters from those of the St. Lawrence. This portion, nearly 



CANADA. 21 

three times as large as the other parts together, may comprehend 
250,000 square miles. 

Of this great division comparatively little is yet known, though 
of some portions of it, on Lake Superior and on the north shore of 
Lake Huron, surveys have been made, in consequence of the dis- 
covery of a copper-bearing region there. On the latter shore 
twenty-two copper mining locations were issued by the Govern- 
ment, two of which are now worked, and one of these, the Bruce 
Mines, on an extensive scale. 

This shore presents an undulating country rising into hills which 
sometimes attain the height of 400 and 700 feet above the lake. 
These occasionally exhibit rugged escarpments, and naked rocky 
surfaces, but in general their summits are rounded, and their 
flanks with the valleys well clothed with trees, often of large 
growth, and of such species as are valuable in commerce, and in 
many places giving promise of a good arable soil. 



The Geological survey of the Province is proceeding carefully 
and steadily, and its results will be very advantageous to the Pro- 
vince, and beneficial to general science. At the Great Industrial 
Exhibition in London in 1851, a geological map of the geological 
formations of Canada, so far as known, was exhibited, and a collec- 
tion of minerals and geological specimens exhibited, of so complete 
and comprehensive a character as to elicit the ensuing high testi- 
mony of approval from the jury of the class comprehending min- 
eral products. 

" Of all the British Colonies, Canada is that whose exhibition is 
the most interesting and complete, and one may even say that it 
is even superior so far as the mineral kingdom is concerned to all 
countries that have forwarded their products to the Exhibition. 
This arises from the fact that the collection has been made in 
a systematic manner, and it results that the study of it furnishes 
the means of appreciating at once the geological structure and 
mineral resources of Canada." 

Similar judicious efforts have been made for the representation 
of Canadian geology and mineralogy, and Canadian interests gen- 
erally, at the Paris Exposition, which no doubt will be attended 
with a like result. In order to secure the representation of 
the various departments of Canadian industry at this Exhibi- 



22 CANADA. 

tiou, the Legislature has voted a sum of £10,000 currency. A 
large and carefully chosen selection of minerals has been sent for 
exhibition at Paris, which will contribute materially towards 
bringing the great resources of Canada prominently into view. 



CHAPTER II. 
GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES, 



The Province of Canada, as will be seen by the Map, embraces 
a wide and extremely diversified section of country, extending 
between latitude 42° and 53° N.,and longitude 64° and 90° W., 
comprising an area of 346,863 square miles, as estimated by Bou- 
chette, and comprehending great variety of climate. It is bounded- 
on the north by the Hudson's Bay territory, on the west by Lakes 
Superior and Huron, on the south by Lakes Erie and Ontario, 
and on the east by the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, New 
Brunswick, and a portion of the United States, viz : the States of 
New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. 

The Province of Canada, called the Province of Quebec prior 
to 1791, was in that year divided into the two Provinces of Upper 
and Lower Canada, under distinct Governments, but in the year 
1840 the Provinces were re-united by Act of the Imperial Legis- 
lature, and constituted into one Province — " the Province of 
Canada." 

Having defined the general boundaries of the Province, it will 
be convenient to notice separately the several tracts of country 
embraced in the two Provinces, as elsewhere in this treatise refer- 
ences will be made to distinctions, social and political, which 
took their origin under the former divisions of the Province. 
The former Province of Lower Canada was comprised between 
45° and 52° of north latitude, embracing an area of 205,863 
square miles, exclusively of the surface occupied by the River St. 
Lawrence, and a portion of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, embracing 
52,000 square miles. The Gulf of St. Lawrence, into which are 
poured the waters of the mighty river of that name, is formed 
between .the western part of Newfoundland, the eastern shores of 
Labrador, the eastern extremity of the Province of New Brunswick, 
part of the Province of Nova Scotia, and the Island of Cape Breton. 
It communicates with the Atlantic Ocean by three different passa- 



CANADA. 2$ 

X^i>, viz : on the north by the straits of Belle Isle, between Labra- 
dor and the Island of Newfoundland, on the south-east by the 
passage between Cape Ray, the south-west extremity of the latter 
island and the north of Cape Breton Island, and lastly by the 
narrow channel named the Gut of Canso, which divides Cape- 
Breton from Nova Scotia. On its south side is the island of St. 
•John, more commonly called Prince Edward's Island, a British 
Province under a Governor and Legislature of its own. To the 
northward of Prince Edward's Island are the Magdalen Islands,, 
which comprise an aggregate area of 78,000 acres. They are 
seven in number, occupied as fishing stations, and are included in 
the Government of Canada, being for the purpose of representation 
comprehended in the County of Gaspe. The population of these 
islands at the period of the last Census was 2500. Ochres of 
various colours, and gypsum, or plaster of Paris, are abundant, 
and compose several miles of the seaward cliffs. 

Within the Gulf of the St. Lawrence also, and at the very 
threshold of this great Province, lies the large Island of Anticosti. 
It is situated between the 4&th and 50th parallels of north latitude, 
and the 61st and 65th degrees of west longitude, 420 miles below 
Quebec. It has never been surveyed, but is deserving of attention, 
as its position admirably adapts it for becoming an entrepot for 
.arrying on the trade between Canada and Europe. It comprises 
nearly two millions of acres. It is well wooded, and much of the 
land is believed to be arable. There are excellent harbours on its 
coasts, and its sea and river fisheries are exceedingly valuable. 

LOWER CANADA. 

To present, however, a distinct Geographical view of the Pro- 
vince of Lower Canada, it may be well to notice it in sections, as 
indicated by its natural divisions, adopting those defined by another 
writer, R. Montgomery Martin. I therefore view firstly the coun- 
try on the north side of the St. Lawrence, and then that on the 
south side. 

NORTH SIDE OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 

1st. The most northerly and easterly section of the Province 
of Canada, extending from the Labrador Coast to the Saguenay 
River, latitude 48° 5', longitude 69° 37', occupies a front of 650 
miles. A bold mountainous country characterises the coast line, 



24 CANADA. 

but of the interior little is known. The country between these 
two points is well watered by numerous rivers. 

2nd. The second geographical division of the Province north 
of the St. Lawrence is that comprised between the mouths of the 
Saguenay and St. Maurice Rivers. The distance between these 
rivers is about 200 miles, the City of Quebec being midway 
between them. From Quebec downwards to the Saguenay, the 
northern shore of the St. Lawrence presents a continuous moun- 
tain range, but beyond this the interior of the country is in some 
places flat, in others undulating, with chains of hills of moderate 
height, and is well watered by numerous lakes and rivers. It is 
represented as being susceptible of cultivation, and an agricultural 
settlement of French Canadians is being formed on a considerable 
scale, with good prospects of success. There are several other 
localities in which good settlements already exist. On the River 
Saguenay itself, (which is a magnificent stream of great depth, the 
scenery of its shores being very grand, the rocks towering up in 
some places, as at Cape Eternity, to the height of 3000 feet,) large 
operations in the manufacture of deals have been for many years 
carried on, and several ships have been there annually laden for 
Britain. The climate in this region of country is not more severe 
than at Quebec. The country is well wooded, and a company has 
been incorporated to construct a tram-way from the City of Quebec, 
in the first instance, to the Lake of St. John, a large lake in the 
interior, and eventually to the Saguenay; the intended object 
being to furnish the citizens with supplies of fuel, and also to open 
up the country for settlement. The City of Quebec contains a 
population^ of 50,000. It is romantically situated, and the view 
from the Citadel and the Upper Town is grand and extensive. It 
is the great shipping depot of the Canada lumber trade, and has 
also a large trade in ship building, while for four years past it has 
been the seat of the Provincial Government. 

The country north-west of Quebec, between that city and the 
St. Maurice, is not so bold as it is to the north-east, towards the 
Saguenay. It is undulating, and along the St. Lawrence is thickly 
settled. The Rivers Jacques Cartier, Port Neuf, St. Annes, and 
Batiscan,. water it. On the Port Neuf there is a large paper mill, 
and other manufactories. 

3rd. The third territorial section north of the St. Lawrence 
embraces the country lying between the St. Maurice River and 



CANADA. 25 

the junction of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, and extending 
on the north shore of the Ottawa to the extreme limit of Lower 
Canada. A large and valuable tract of country lies in rear of 
Three Rivers, and is drained "by the St. Maurice. Near Three 
Rivers are extensive iron ore deposits and iron works. Within a 
few years the region of the St. Maurice has been opened up to the 
enterprise of the timber manufacturers : several American firms 
have largely engaged in getting out timber ; extensive saw mills 
have been erected ; and the ancient Town of Three Rivers has 
received an impetus, and is rapidly advancing. The St. Maurice 
receives many tributaries, some of them of great size. Thirty- 
three miles above Three Rivers the river becomes navigable for 
an extent of seventy-five miles. Government has here expended 
a considerable sum in the erection of slides for the transit of 
timber. Beyond Three Rivers to Montreal the country along the 
frontier is thickly populated. The Island of Montreal and Isle 
Jesus are densely settled. The soil is good, and many of the 
farms are conducted on scientific principles, and with great profit, 
in consequence of their proximity to the local market of the City 
of Montreal. The Island of Montreal is thirty-two miles long 
by ten broad. Isle Jesus is twenty-one miles long by six broad. 
The Island of Montreal, containing the City of Montreal, the com- 
mercial emporium of Canada, with a population of 70,000, lies 
between the Ottawa and St. Lawrence. From the head of this 
island upward is the great basin drained by the Ottawa and its 
tributaries, and situated in the heart of the united Province of 
Canada, occupying nearly one quarter of its extent, which is 
known as the Ottawa country. 

THE OTTAWA COUNTRY. 

The length of the course of the Ottawa River is about 780 
miles. From its source it bends in a south-west course, and after 
receiving several tributaries from the height of land separating its 
waters from the Hudson's Bay, it . enters Lake Temiscaming. 
From its entrance into this lake downward the course of the 
Ottawa has been surveyed, and is well known.* 

* For this interesting sketch the writer is indebted to the Second Report of 
the Committee of the House of Assembly on Railways, it having been origi- 
nally contributed to one of the Ottawa newspapers, and extracted there- 
from by the Committee. 

C 



20 CANADA, 

• 

At the head of the lake the Blanche River falls in, coming 
about ninety miles from the north. Thirty-four miles farther 
down the lake it receives the Montreal River, coming 120 miles 
from the north-west: the latter is the canoe route from the Ottawa 
to Hudson's Bay. Six miles lower, on the east side, it receives 
the Keepawa, a river of great size, passing through an unknown 
country, and coming from a lake said to be fifty miles long. The 
Keepawa exceeds in volume the largest rivers in Great Britain, 
and in its descent to Lake Temiscaming presents a magnificent 
cascade 120 feet in height. Though the middle course of this 
river is unknown, its commencement, if such it can be called, has 
been surveyed, and it is extraordinary in its nature. Ninety miles 
above its mouth it was found flowing slowly but very deep, and 
nearly three hundred feet wide, and issuing from the west side of 
Lake Keepawa. Out of the southern extremity of that large lake, 
the River Dumoine, which enters the Ottawa a hundred miles 
below the Keepawa, was also found flowing swiftly and very deep, 
and 150 feet in width, thus presenting a phenomenon similar to 
the connection of the Rio Negro and the Orinoco. 

From the Long Sault at the foot of Lake Temiscaming, 233 
miles above Bytown, and 360 miles from the mouth of the Ottawa, 
down to Jeux Joachim Rapids, at the head of Deep River, that is 
for eighty-nine miles, the Ottawa with the exception of seventeen 
miles below the Long Sault, and some other intervals, is rapid, and 
is not navigable except for canoes. Besides other tributaries in the 
interval, at 197 miles from Bytown, it receives on the west side 
the Mattawa, which is the highway for canoes going to Lake 
Huron, by Lake Nipissing. From the Mattawa the Ottawa flows 
east-by-south to the head of Deep River reach, nine miles above 
where it receives the River Dumoine from the north. 

From the head of Deep River, as this part of the Ottawa is 
called, to the foot of Upper Allumettes Lake, two miles below the 
village of Pembroke, is an uninterrupted reach of navigable water, 
forty-three miles in length. The general direction of the river in 
this part is south-east. The mountains along the north side of 
Deep River are upwards of a thousand feet in height, and the 
many wooded islands of Allumettes Lake render the scenery of 
this part of the Ottawa magnificent and exceedingly picturesque 
— far surpassing the celebrated Lake of the Thousand Islands on 
the St. Lawrence. 



CANADA. 27 

Passing the short rapid of Allumettes, and turning northward, 
round the lower end of Allumettes Island, which is fourteen miles 
long, and eight at its greatest width, and turning down south-east 
through Coulonge Lake, and passing behind the nearly similar 
Islands of Calumet, to the head of the Calumet Falls, the Ottawa 
presents, with the exception of one slight rapid, a reach of fifty 
miles of navigable water. The mountains on the north side of 
Coulonge Lake, which rise apparently to the height of 1500 feet, 
add a degree of grandeur to the scenery, which is in other respects 
beautiful and varied. In the Upper Allumettes Lake, 115 miles 
from Bytown, the Ottawa receives from the west the Petewawa, 
one of its largest tributaries. This river is 140 miles in length, 
and drains an area of 2200 square miles. At Pembroke, nine 
miles lower down, on the same side, an inferior stream, the Indian 
River, also empties itself into the Ottawa. 

At the head of Lake Coulogne, seventy-nine miles from Bytown, 
it receives from the north the Black River, 130 miles in length, 
draining an area of 1120 square miles; and nine miles lower, on 
the same side, the River Coulonge, which is probably 160 miles 
in length, with a valley of 1800 square miles. 

From the head of the Calumet Falls to Portage du Fort, the 
head of the steamboat navigation, a distance of eight miles, there 
are impassable rapids. Fifty miles above Bytown the Ottawa 
receives on the west the Bonnechere, 110 miles in length, draining 
an area of 980 miles. Eleven miles lower, it receives the Mada- 
waska, one of its greatest feeders, a river 210 miles in length, and 
draining 4100 square miles. 

Thirty-seven miles above Bytown there is an interruption in the 
navigation, caused by three miles of rapids and falls, to pass which 
a railroad has been made. At the foot of the rapids the Ottawa 
divides among islands into numerous channels, presenting a most 
imposing array of separate falls 

Six miles above Bytown begin the rapids terminating in the 
Chaudiere Falls, which, though inferior in impressive grandeur to 
the Falls of Niagara, are perhaps more permanently interesting, 
as presenting greater variety. 

The greatest height of the Chaudiere Falls is about forty feet. 
Arrayed in every imaginable variety of form, in vast dark masses, 
in graceful cascades or in tumbling spray, they have been well 
described as a hundred rivers struggling for a passage. Not the 



28 CANADA. 

least interesting feature which they present is the Lost Chaudiere, 
where a body of water greater in volume than the Thames at 
London is quietly sucked down, and disappears under ground. 

At Bytown the Ottawa receives the Rideau from the west, run- 
ning a course of 116 miles, and draining an area of 1350 square 
miles. A mile lower it receives from the north its greatest tribu- 
tary, the Gatineau, which, with a course probably of 420 miles? 
drains an area of 12,000 square miles. For about 200 miles the 
upper course of the river is in the unknown northern country. 
At the farthest point surveyed, 217 miles from its mouth, the 
Gatineau is still a noble stream, a thousand feet wide, diminished 
in depth but not in width. 

Eighteen miles lower down, the Riviere du Lievre enters from 
the north, after running a course of 260 miles in length, and drain- 
ing an area of 4100 square miles. Fifteen miles below it the 
Ottawa receives the North and South Nation Rivers on either side, 
the former 95 and the latter 100 miles in length. Twenty- 
two miles further, the River Rouge, 90 miles long, enters from 
the north. Twenty-one miles lower, the Riviere du Nord, 160 miles 
in length, comes in on the same side, and lastly just above its mouth 
it receives the River Assumption, which has a course of 130 miles. 
From Bytown the river is navigable to Grenville, a distance of 
fifty-eight miles, where the rapids that occur for twelve miles are 
avoided by a succession of canals. Twenty-three miles lower, at 
one of the mouths of the Ottawa, a single lock, to avoid a slight 
rapid, gives a passage into Lake St. Louis, an expansion of the 
St. Lawrence above Montreal. 

The remaining half of the Ottawa's waters find their way to 
the St. Lawrence by passing in two channels behind the Island of 
Montreal and the Isle Jesus, in a course of thirty-one miles. They 
are interrupted with rapids, still it is by one of them that all the 
Ottawa lumber passes to market. At Bout de ITsle, therefore, the 
Ottawa is finally merged in the St. Lawrence, 130 miles below 
Bytown. 

The most prominent characteristic of the Ottawa is its great 
volume. Even above Bytown, where it has to receive tributaries 
equal to the Hudson, the Shannon, the Thames, the Tweed, the 
Spey and the Clyde, it displays, when unconfined, a width of half 
a mile of strong boiling rapid, and when at the highest, while the 
north waters are passing, the volume, by calculated approximation, 



CANADA. 29 

is fully equal to that passing Niagara, that is double the common 
volume of the Ganges. 

Taking a birdseye view of the valley of the Ottawa, we see 
spread out before us a country equal to eight times the State of 
Vermont, or ten times that of Massachusetts, with its great artery 
the Ottawa curving through it, resembling the Rhine in length of 
course, and the Danube in magnitude. 

This immense region overlies a variety of geological formations, 
and presents all their characteristic features, from the level uniform 
surface of the silurian system, which prevails along a great extent 
of the Ottawa, to the rugged and romantic ridges in the metamor- 
phic and primitive formations which stretch far away to the north 
and north-west. 

As far as our knowledge of the country extends, we find the 
greater part of it covered with a luxuriant growth of red and 
white pine timber, making the most valuable forests in the world, 
abundantly intersected with large rivers, fitted to convey the timber 
to market, when manufactured. 

The remaining portion of it, if not so valuably wooded, presents 
a very extensive and advantageous field for settlement. Apart 
from the numeraus townships already surveyed and partly settled, 
and the large tracts of good land interspersed throughout the 
timber country, the great region on the upper course of the western 
tributaries of the Ottawa, behind the red pine country, exceeds 
the State of New Hampshire in extent, with an equal climate 
and superior soil. It is generally a beautiful undulating country, 
wooded with a rich growth of maple, beech, birch, elm, &c, and 
watered with lakes and streams affording numerous mill-sites, and 
abounding in fish. Flanking on the one side the lumbering country, 
which presents an excellent market for produce, and adjoining 
Lake Huron on the other, the situation, though comparatively 
inland, is highly advantageous. 

In the diversity of resources the Ottawa country above des- 
cribed, part of which is included in Upper Canada, presents 
unusual attractions alike to agricultural industry and commercial 
enterprise. 

SOUTH SIDE OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 

4th. We now view the Province on the south side of the St. Law- 
rence, beginning as before at the sea coast, on which the large 
District of Gaspe, and populous Counties of Gaspe and Bonaven- 



30 CANADA. 

ture are situate. This tract more properly belongs to New Bruns- 
wick than to Lower Canada, and lies between the parallels of 4*7° 
18' to 49o 22' north latitude, and 64° 12' to 61° 53' west 
longitude, bounded on the north by the River St. Lawrence, 
on the east by the Gulf of the same name, on the south by the 
Bay of Chaleurs, adjoining New Brunswick, and on the west by 
the Lower Canada territory ; having its greatest width from north 
to south about ninety miles, and with a sea coast extending 350 
miles from Cape Chat round to the head of Ristigouche Bay. The 
face of the country is uneven, with a range of mountains skirting 
the St. Lawrance to the north, and another at no remote distance 
from the shores of Ristigouche River and Bay of Chaleurs ; between 
these ridges is an elevated and broken valley occasionally intersect- 
ed by deep ravines. The district is well wooded, and watered by 
numerous rivers and lakes, the soil rich and yielding abundantly 
when tilled. The sea beach is low (with the exception of Cape 
Gaspe which is high, with perpendicular cliffs,) and is frequently 
used as the highway of the territory behind it, the land rises into 
high round hills well wooded. 

The chief rivers are the Ristigouche, into which fall the Pseudy, 
Goummitz, Guadamgonichone, and Metapediac ; the Grand and 
Little Nouvelle, Grand and Little Essecumiac, Oaplin, Bonaventure, 
East Nouvelle, and Port Daniel, which discharge themselves into 
the Bay of Chaleurs ; Grand and Little Pabos, Grande Riviere, 
and Mai Bay River, flowing into the Gulf of the St. Lawrence ; 
the River St. John and north-east and south-west branches fall into 
Gaspe Bay. There are also many lakes. 

5th. The country comprised between the western boundary 
of Gaspe and the east of the Chaudiere River has a front along 
the St. Lawrence River to the north-west, of 257 miles, and is 
bounded to the south-east by the high lands dividing the British 
from the United States territories. These high lands are sixty-two 
miles from the St. Lawrence at their nearest point, but on approach- 
ing the Chaudiere River they diverge southwardly. The frontier 
is thickly populated, the southern bank of the river from Quebec 
to Trois Pistoles, a distance of about 160 miles, inclusively 
of the frontage of the fertile Island of Orleans, presenting the 
appearence of one continuous village of neat white farm-houses. 
This results from the dwellings being all erected on the fronts of 
the farms. Riviere du Loup and Kakouna in the summer season 



CANADA. 31 

have beeome of late years places of considerable resort as watering 
places. The Provincial Government have lately constructed several 
large wharves at various points along the St. Lawrence below 
Quebec, for the accommodation of the inhabitants, and for the use 
of vessels. The physical aspect of this territory, embracing about 
19,000 square miles, may be characterised as a hilly region abound- 
ing in extensive valleys. The immediate border of the St. Lawrence 
is flat, soon, however, rising into irregular ridges, and attaining an 
elevated and extensive tableau. At the distance of fifteen to twenty 
miles from the shores of the St. Lawrence the tableau gently des- 
cends towards the River St. John, beyond which it again re-ascends, 
acquiring a greater degree of altitude towards the sources of the 
Allegash, finally merging in the Connecticut range of mountains. 

6th. The last section of Lower Canada, south of the St. Law- 
rence, is that highly valuable tract west of the River Chaudiere, 
fronting the St. Lawrence, and having in the rear the high lands 
of Connecticut, and the parallel of the 45° of north latitude, 
which constitutes the south and south-east boundary of Lower 
Canada, where the latter is divided from the American States of 
New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. The superficial extent 
of this tract is 18,864 miles. The physical aspect varies through- 
out this extensive section : at the mouth of the Chaudiere the 
banks of the St. Lawrence exhibit the boldness for which they are 
remarkable at Quebec and Point Levi, but proceeding westward 
they gradually subside to a moderate elevation, till they sink into 
the flats of Baie du Febvre and the marshy shores of Lake St. 
Peter, where the country becomes a richly luxuriant plain. 

Proceeding from Lake St. Peter towards Montreal the boldness 
and grandeur of the country about Quebec may be contrasted 
with the picturesque champaigne beauties of the Richelieu, Ver- 
cheres, Chambly, and Laprairie districts. In the former especially 
the eye of the spectator is delighted with a succession of rich and 
fruitful fields, luxuriant meadows, flourishing settlements, neat 
homesteads, and rising villages, adorning the banks of the Riche- 
lieu, the Yamaska, and the St. Lawrence, whilst in the distance 
are seen the towering mountains of Rouville and Chambly, 
Rougemont, Mount Johnson, and Boucherville, rising majestically 
above the common level. As the country recedes from the St. 
Lawrence banks, to the east and south-east, it gradually swells 
into ridges, becomes progressively more hilly, and finally assumes 



32 CANADA. 

a mountainous character towards Lakes Memphreraagog and St. 
Francis, beyond which it continues to preserve more or less bold- 
aess of aspect to the borders of the Chaudiere,. and the height of 
land at the Connecticut sources. 

* This last is the section of country known by the name of the 
Eastern Townships, and which properly so called are that great 
extent of habitable and fertile country contained between the 
Chambly and Chaudiere- Rivers in one direction, and between the 
frontier lines of Maine, Yermont, and New Hampshire, and the 
Seigniories of the Districts of Montreal, Saint Francis, Three 
Bivers, and part of Quebec, in the other. This vast territory pro- 
mises to become at no distant period the richest, the most popu- 
lous and the most flourishing part of Lower Canada, not only on 
account of its climate, milder than that of the shores of the St. 
Lawrence, of the immense extent of excellent and fertile soil which, 
it includes, and of its abundant streams of water, but also because^ 
while borderingon the territory of the United States, it is traversed 
by the main lines of communication between the two countries> 
namely, the railroad from Montreal to Richmond, and from Rich- 
mond to Portland on the Atlantic, and by that from Richmond to 
Quebec, forming part of the Grand Trunk line. 

The six great counties which the Eastern Townships comprise,. 
Sherbrooke, Stanstead, Shefford, Missisquoi, Druminond, and Me- 
gantic, contain, according to My, Bouchette's compilation, 4,888,400 
acres of land, and their population did not, according to the 
approximate returns of the population of Lower Canada of 1848> 
exceed 69,168 souls. In order to arrive at an approximate esti- 
mate of the numbers which the Eastern Townships might contain, 
we will suppose that two -thirds only of the superficial acres, that 
is 3,25*7,600 acres, are occupied, omitting the other third as worth- 
less and unproductive ; and allow one hundred acres to every 
settler, the result will be 32,57$ landed proprietors. We may 
therefore conclude, without fear of being charged with exaggera- 
tion, that the population of the Eastern Townships may soon reach 
the number of 243,027 souls, that is to say, a number equal to- 
half the entire population of Lower Canada in 183.1. We would 
have the reader to observe that the computation of 1,628,800 

* For the chief portion of this sketch of the townships the author is 
indebted to the Report of the Committee on the settlement of these town- 
ships, published by the House of Assembly. 



CANADA. 33 

acres as unproductive is far beyond the mark, inasmuch as the 
Eastern Townships contain tracts of land considered to be unpro- 
ductive, but yet very fit in fact for cultivation, and needing nothing 
to render them valuable but the application of a good system of 
drainage. , 

The features of the country which we are describing are in 
general varied and exceedingly interesting. 

There are a considerable number of villages in the inhabited 
parts of the townships, and each distinguished by its particular 
kind of beauty. In one, the surrounding landscape charms the 
eye, in another the buildings are constructed in a varied and 
capricious style, whil^ of a third the most striking feature is its 
situation at the foot of a mountain or the border of a lake. Every 
township "in any degree settled has its village; some possess two. 
In the Township of Ascot are Sherbrooke and Lennox ville ; in 
Shipton, Richmond and Danville ; in Grantham, Drummondville > 
with many others scattered throughout the various townships. 
The Town of Sherbrooke is a village more considerable than 
the rest, and yielding in beauty to none. The nearer we approach 
the frontier the greater the appearance of prosperity, and there 
the earliest settlements were made.' 

This extensive territory is abundantly watered by the St. Francis,, 
which has two main springs, namely, Lake St. Francis, situated 
between the Counties of Megantic and Sherbrooke, and Lake 
Memphremagog, upon the frontier of Vermont, by the Rivers 
Nicolet, Becancour, Chaudiere, and by others less considerable. 
The River Magog, passing through the Town of Sherbrooke, fur- 
nishes water power to several cotton, wool, iron, paper, and pail 
factories. The water power of the Magog, which is considerable, 
will eventually add greatly to the importance of the Town of 
Sherbrooke. The River Becancour might be easily made naviga- 
ble by means of a cheap canal from the falls in Inverness to Black 
Lake, a distance of only fifty-one miles. From this point the St. 
Francis, watering the Townships of Weedon, Dudswell, Westbury, 
and Ascot, affords a cheap and easy means of communication, 
which passes through a tract of country a hundred and one miles 
in length. It opens out to the labors of the agriculturalist, and the 
enterprise of the merchant, the beautiful valley watered by the 
» Becancour and the St. Francis, destined to become, one day, one 
of the richest sections of the Eastern Townships. 




34 CANADA, 

Throughout the vast tract of countiy we are describing we find 
a great number of minor streams, affording water power which 
might be turned to profitable account with no great outlay of 
capital. Here we may remark that the townships are free from 
the burthens of the Seigniorial Tenure, and we accordingly find 
mills and factories in all the settled parts of the country. They 
are therefore destined to become the seat of manufactures, and 
the abundant water power will be a permanent source of wealth. 

Another subdivision of country may be briefly noticed : the 
Chateauguay and Beauharnois section, including the important 
Seigniory of Beauharnois, and other seigniories, and supporting a 
large population. This part lies between the Eastern Townships 
and the River St. Lawrence, and extends to the boundary line of 
the Upper Province. 

UPPER CANADA. 

We now proceed to notice the geographical features of Upper 
or Western Canada, which will be viewed as divided into three 
great natural sections, the eastern, central and western. The 
first containing the triangular territory between the St. Lawrence 
and the Ottawa. The second, having nearly a square form, 
extending from Lake Ontario on the south to Lake Nipissing on 
the north, and stretching from the latter lake to the Ottawa, east- 
ward. The third, comprising an irregular triangular peninsula, 
enclosed nearly by Lakes Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, and 
the channels by which these are connected. 

1st. Within the eastern section are comprised the following 
counties, viz : 

Glengary, Stormont, Dundas, Leeds and Grenville, Prescott, 
Russell, Lanark, Renfrew, and Carlton. 

The Counties of Glengary, Stormont, and Dundas, the old 
Eastern District, skirt the St. Lawrence, having a row of six 
townships, viz : Lancaster, Chaiiottenburg, Cornwall, Osnabruck, 
Williamsburg, and Matilda, fronting the River St. Lawrence ; and 
six, viz : Lochiel and Kenyon, Roxburgh and Finch, Winchester 
and Mountain, on the river. The County of Glengary is settled 
by Highlanders chiefly, the County of Dundas to a considerable 
extent by Dutch and their descendants. The Counties of Leeds 
and Grenville, containing on the River St. Lawrence the towns 
of Prescott and Brockville, and many villages, front on the St. 



CANADA. 35 

Lawrence, and run back. The Counties of Prescott and Russell lie 
between the Ottawa River and the Eastern District. Within these 
counties are very valuable mineral springs, known as the Caledo- 
nia Springs. In the Township of Piantagent also there is a 
valuable medicinal spring, the waters of which are largely used, 
being exposed for sale in the chief cities of the Province. The 
County of Carlton abuts the County of Russell, and following the 
irregular wanderings of the Ottawa, contains five townships on 
the river, and five in the rear. The Rideau Canal has much bene- 
fitted the lower front townships. This canal is an Imperial work 
of considerable extent, which makes the Rideau River and Lake 
navigable, and connects the Ottawa at Bytown with the St. Law- 
rence at Kingston, a distance of 142 miles. There are 47 locks. 
It was built for military purposes chiefly. The principal town in 
this section of country is Bytown, now elevated to the position of 
a city, known as the City of Ottawa, and containing over 10,000 
inhabitants. The farm on which it stands was sold 25 years ago 
for £80, and is now computed to be worth over £50,000. Above 
Bytown, at the Chats Rapids, a canal is being constructed by the 
Government on the north or Lower Canadian side of the river. 
The Counties of Lanark and Renfrew, of which the principal town 
is Perth, containing 2500 inhabitants, embrace 27 townships, 
extending from the County of Leeds to the Ottawa River, and 
having a range of townships on this river. Beyond the upper 
portion of Renfrew is a large tract of unsurveyed land, included in 
the general description of the Ottawa country, and extending to 
Lake Huron. A railway is in progress, traversing the County of 
Leeds from the St. Lawrence at Brockville, and extending through 
Lanark and Renfrew to the Ottawa at Pembroke, opening up a , 
fine country already containing a large population. The front 
townships of the Counties of Glengary, Stormont, Dundas, 
Grenville, and Leeds, are also traversed by the Grand Trunk 
Railway. The eastern division of the Province contains much 
excellent land and a hardy enterprising people, and is destined to 
afford support to a much larger population, as it embraces valuable 
mineral resources, and there are large tracts of land available for 
settlement. 

2nd. The central section of Canada West comprises the Coun- 
ties of Frontenac, Lennox, Addington, Hastings, Prince Edward, 
Northumberland, Durham, Peterborough, the four Ridings of 






36 CANADA. 

York and Simcoe Counties. This central division comprises a 
very important section of Canada, and includes, a large extent 
of territory. It is watered by several rivers, such as the Moira, 
Otonabee, and Trent. The two last are connected with a series 
of nearly a dozen lakes, commencing with Rice Lake, and end- 
ing with the large Lake of Simcoe. The central division is 
bordered by Lake Ontario, and runs back to the unsurveyed 
country. The Counties of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, 
the most easterly of the three, adjoin the County of Leeds. The 
City of Kingston is here most advantageously situated at the outlet 
of Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence. The large County of 
Hastings is washed in front by the Bay of Quinte, which is 
connected with Lake Ontario. The iron works of Marmora, and 
Belleville, a very rising town, are situated within Hastings. The 
County of Prince Edward is a large peninsula, separated on the one 
side from the Counties of Hastings and Lennox by the windings 
of the Bay of Quinte, and washed on the other by Lake Ontario. 
The Counties of Northumberland and Durham, commencing at 
the western extremity of the Bay of Quinte, and washed in the 
front by Lake Ontario, extend about sixty miles westward along 
Lake Ontario to the County of York, and are backed by the 
County of Peterborough. Cobourg is the principal town. Port 
Hope is also a rising place. The County of Peterborough is 
bounded to the south-west by Durham, and separated by Rice 
Lake and the Trent from Northumberland County. The Town of 
Peterborough on the Otonabee, is a place of rising importance. 
The old Home District, comprising the four Ridings of York, 
stretches from Northumberland and Durham westward to the 
River Credit, towards the termination of Lake Ontario, and extend- 
ing northerly along the southern and eastern shores of Lake 
Simcoe. This is an exceedingly fertile section of country, yielding 
abundant crops of wheat. The City of Toronto is its capital, the 
most populous city in the Upper Province, advantageously situated 
on Lake Ontario. A macadamized road, called Yonge Street, 
upwards of thirty miles in length, was many years ago laid out, 
and is still in use. A railway has been opened out from Toronto 
to the Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, terminating at Collingwood 
Harbour, where a town has sprung up with surprising rapidity. 
In rear of the Ridings of York lies the extensive County of Simcoe, 
extending to the southern shores of the Georgian Bay on Lake 



CANADA. 37 

Huron, and containing a large population. The Ontario, Simcoe 
and Huron Railway, above alluded to, will do much to develop 
the resources of this part of the country. The central section of 
the Province is an important one, and is destined to contain a 
very large population. 

3rd. We have now to treat, thirdly, of the western section of 
Upper Canada, which is advancing w 7 ith great rapidity, is attract- 
ing the greater share of the emigration, and is in many respects 
the garden of Western Canada. Its surface is remarkably level, 
containing scarcely a hill. Its interior is traversed by several 
fine rivers, the Welland, Grand River, Thames, and Sydenham. 
The following counties are included in it, viz : Halton, Wentworth, 
Lincoln, Welland, Haldimand, Norfolk, Middlesex, Kent, Essex, 
Huron, Waterloo, and Oxford. Halton and Wentworth are sepa- 
rated from each other by Burlington Bay, which forms the west- 
ern extremity of Lake Ontario. Hamilton is a city of importance, 
being the second in Upper Canada, and advancing very rapidly. 
Lying chiefly eastward from these are Lincoln, Welland and 
Haldimand, forming a peninsula enclosed on the north by Lake 
Erie. The Welland Canal is a most important work, connecting 
Lakes Erie and Ontario. This work is the most remunerative of 
the great system of Canadian canals. The Connty of Norfolk 
lies westward from Haldimand. The extensive County of Mid- 
dlesex skirts a large bend of Lake Erie, and recedes northwards 
to the County of Huron. It is watered by the important River 
Thames, on which is situated the rising town of London, now a 
city. The Counties of Kent, Lambton, and Essex, are the most 
south-westerly in the Province. They possess much fine land and 
a temperate climate. The County of Huron lies between the 
County of Middlesex and Lake Huron. The Canada Company is 
a very large proprietor in this county. Settlements are extending 
very rapidly to this section of country, a new one having been 
recently formed at the Saugeen, a tract recently acquired by the 
Provincial Government by treaty from the Indians, and which is 
represented as possessing many advantages. The County of 
Waterloo extends north- eastwardly from the eastern extremity of 
the County of Huron to Owen Sound on the Georgian Bay of 
Lake Huron. The County of Oxford is entirely inland, being 
enclosed by the counties above lastly named. 



38 CANADA. 

Having thus presented an outline of the geographical character 
of the Upper Province, for our limits will not permit of greater 
details, we shall now notice the great River St. Lawrence, and the 
great Lakes of Ontario, Erie, Superior and Huron, which in fact 
ought rather to be characterized as inland seas than as lakes. 

THE ST. LAWRENCE. 

This noble river is the pride of the Canadian people, and the 
highway down which are poured to the ocean their surplus pro- 
ducts. Emerging from Lake Ontario at Kingston, it pursues its 
course, widening occasionally into expanses of lakes, till it expends 
its waters, previously swollen near Montreal by the River Ottawa, 
in the great Gulf of the St. Lawrence. Its extreme course from 
Lake Ontario is over 600 miles, and its width varies from three- 
quarters of a mile to twenty-five miles. Its stream between this 
lake and Montreal is occasionally interrupted by rapids, some of 
which are too impetuous to admit of vessels ascending them, 
though they may and do freely descend them. This difficulty has 
been overcome by the magnificent chain of the St. Lawrence 
Canals, which are unequalled in the world, and which, with the 
Welland Canal and the great lakes, afford an inland navigation of 
2000 miles, penetrating into the very heart of this great country. 
The principal tributaries of the St. Lawrence are the Ottawa, St. 
Maurice, and Saguenay, all which have been previously noticed in 
that part of this work relating to Lower Canada. 

LAKES. 

The distinguishing feature of North America is perhaps the 
number and magnitude of its lakes. Irrespective of many of 
comparatively inferior extent, there are five great lakes intimately 
connected with each other, viz : Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, 
Erie, and Ontario, which embrace an area of 100,000 square miles. 
Lake Superior is the largest inland lake in the world. 

These five great lakes are situated within that portion of the 
Continent of North America which may be described as the basin 
of the St. Lawrence. The general aspect of the area within which 
they are comprised is that of a great central plain with successive 
terraces. The whole fall of the water in this course of 1300 miles 
is only 370 feet. Lake Superior discharges its waters by the River 
St. Mary, 39 miles long, into Lake Huron. It is 1750 miles in 
circuit, with an area of 1 0,000 square miles. Its borders are bold 



CANADA. 39 

and rocky, and contain much mineral wealth, as for instance cop- 
per and iron. A ship canal has been constructed on the American 
side, between Lakes Superior and Huron, at the Sault Ste. Marie, 
to overcome an interruption to the navigation of a mile and a half 
in extent. <The shores of Lake Superior, except in Michigan and 
Wisconsin on the south, and of the Hudson's Bay, and of a portion 
of the territory of the Mining Companies on the north, are covered 
with the original forest. Lake Huron is 578 feet above the sea. 
It is 250 miles long, 220 broad, and 900 feet deep, and Lake 
Michigan is 310 miles long and 90 broad. Both these lakes 
overflow by the River and Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit River, 
into Lake Erie. Lake Huron is very irregular in shape, and is 
divided into two parts by the Manitoulin Islands. The area of the 
south portion of the lake is about 14,000 square miles. That 
to the north is divided into two parts known by the names of the 
Georgian Bay and the North Channel, the former with an area of 
G000 and the latter with a surface of 1700 miles, thus making 
the area of the whole 21,700 square miles. The shores on the 
south are low, but on the north they are bold, with good harbors. 
The land on the borders of Lake Huron is generally fertile, though 
occasionally rocky on the north. The mineral wealth of the coun- 
try adjoining Lake Huron is believed to be great. Lake Michigan 
is connected with Lake Huron, of which it is in fact a part, by the 
Straits Mackinaw. It has a circuit of about 1000 miles, and an 
area of nearly 1 7,000 square miles, exclusive of Green Bay, which 
has an area of 2000 miles. Lake Erie, the fourth of the great 
lakes, is about 700 miles in circuit, with an area of 11,000 square 
miles. Its shores are generally low, with little depth of water, 
like the lake itself. Its commercial position is favorable, being 
situated in one of the most fertile regions of North America. 

Lake Ontario is connected with Lake Erie by the Niagara River, 
35 miles long, broken in its course by the Falls of Niagara. Its 
area is about 7000 square miles. Its shores and bays, particularly 
the Bay of Quinte, are varied and irregular. It possesses excellent 
harbors, of which the best are Kingston on the Canadian and 
Sackett's Harbor on the American side of the lake. 

The whole length of the lakes is about 1270 miles, or with the 
St. Lawrence forming a water course of 2170 miles. 



40 CANADA. 

Much valuable information as to the lakes will be found in a 
lecture by the Rev. Professor Williamson, of Queen's College, 
Kingston. 

The lakes afford profitable fisheries, and the country of the lakes 
seems formed to be one of the richest agricultural ^regions in 
America. The lakes are of the utmost importance as means of 
internal communication, but become especially so when viewed in 
connection with the canals and railways, and the communication 
with the sea-board. Some conception of the great extent of the 
Colony of Canada, and its importance as a dependency of Britain, 
may be gathered from the statement of the fact that these great 
lakes alone contain a greater area than that of all Great Britain. 



CHAPTER III. 
NATURAL PRODUCTS. 



The natural products of Canada are destined to prove to it 
an almost inexhaustible source of wealth. The products of the 
forest and the mine, and of the sea and fresh water fisheries, are 
yearly rising in economic importance, and are keeping pace in 
value with the extension of the agricultural resources of the 
Province. We shall, therefore, proceed to notice them in the 
order stated above. Firstly, the products of 

THE FOREST. 

These have hitherto been perhaps the source of revenue which 
has been most productive. Canada has long largely exported white 
and red pine timber, masts, staves, and deals, to Britain, but of 
late years a large and steadily increasing trade in sawed lumber 
has sprung up between Canada and the adjoining United States. 
In the year 1852 the products of the forest exported during that 
year were valued at £1,351,713 9s. Id., and of this large amount 
the region of the Ottawa famished a considerable proportion. The 
timber which is most extensively exported is that of the white pine 
tree, a species of wood of which Canada possesses inexhaustible 
quantities. It is easily wrought, comparatively free from knots, 
and very durable. It is much used for the decks of vessels, and 
also for their lower masts. It is exported to Britain in the shape 
of masts, deals, laths, and squared timber. Amongst other timber, 



CANADA. 41 

valuable in an economic point of view, may be mentioned red 
pine, which is largely exported to Britain, and is chiefly obtained 
from the Ottawa country. Large quantities of "black spruce" are 
shipped from Quebec, principally for the Irish market. From the 
balsam, a species of spruce, a valuable gum is obtained, known as 
* the Canadian balsam," used for medicinal purposes and also 
as an ingredient in the preparation of several kinds of varnish. 
Hemlock, one of the spruce tribe, is a very common tree, attaining 
a large size. Its bark is used as a substitute for oak bark for 
tanning, and planks made from it are coming into extensive use 
for plank roads, owing to their being more permanent than pine. 
The red cedar, for which the Bermudas were long celebrated, is 
common. The white cedar is also plentiful, and is much used for 
the construction of fences. Larch of excellent quality is abundant 
also, and is invaluable for railway ties, &c. Of the hard woods, 
considerable quantities of elm are exported. The ash is a com- 
mon tree, and one variety, the black ash, is used for railway pur- 
poses, and possesses, I am informed, the uncommon quality of such 
peculiar fitness for the purposes of the turner that pillars may be 
turned from the solid wood, which will neither split nor warp. 
Maple is a very valuable tree. Its wood is a favorite article of fuel, 
and from its sap, in early spring, large quantities of excellent 
sugar are made, so that a " sugar bush" is regarded as a useful 
appendage to a farm. Varieties of the maple, curled and bird-eye, 
make beautiful furniture. Beech and birch are also plentiful : 
the wood of the latter tree is well' adapted to the purposes of the 
cabinet maker. That also of the butternut tree makes very 
excellent furniture, resembling somewhat that made from the black 
walnut tree. This last tree is abundant in the western portion of 
Canada "West, and affords incontestably the most valuable material 
for the making of cabinet wares of any of the woods of Canada. 
The wood is beautifully veined, of a rich dark brown colour, and 
is quite equal to mahogany. It has only to be introduced into 
use in Britain, to be valued there, and no doubt will be in demand. 
On the quality of Canada oak it is useless to enlarge, it being- 
second only to EEglish, and it has long formed a very important 
article of export. There is a great variety of minor woods to be 
found among the dense forests of some of the unsettled portions of 
Canada. In the process of settling, clearings are made, and the 
wood is thrown into heaps and burned, and from the ashes large 

D 



42 CANADA. 

quantities of pot and pearl ashes are manufactured and exported, 
their price often going a long way towards enabling the settler to 
meet the first cost of his land. Tot and pearl ashes to the value 
of £232,004 -were exported in 1S52. 

The forests of Canada are extremely valuable in an economic 
point of view, affording the materials of a large export trade, and 
supplying an abundance of fuel. 

MINES AND MINERALS. 

The mineral resources of Canada are especially valuable, and are 
being rapidly developed. The Legislature of the Province has, 
with characteristic liberality, for some years, employed a Geologist 
of European reputation, W. E. Logan, Esquire, and a staff of 
competent assistants, in prosecuting a geological survey of the 
country. In the prosecution of this survey, and otherwise, many 
important deposits of economic minerals have become known, 
while others are continually being discovered, to such an extent 
and of such varied and useful characters as to place it beyond 
doubt that Canada is possessed of vast mineral wealth. In a 
treatise such as this it is impossible to enumerate and specify 
localities. In general terms it may be stated that iron ores are 
found in great abundance and variety. Magnetic iron ore of 
excellent quality and great richness, as well as large percentage, is 
found in large beds in many localities, such as Marmora, South 
Sherbrooke, Hull, Madoc, etc. At Marmora works have been 
carried on at much disadvantage, owing to their inland position, 
but an English Company has been incorporated for working the 
very valuable and extensive bed of metal at this place, and they 
intend to overcome the difficulty by constructing a tram-way to 
connect with the Grand Trunk Railway. At Hull an American 
firm is engaged in mining the ore, for the purpose of transport to 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Specular iron ore is found on Lake 
Huron, and in the township of McNab in Upper Canada, where 
there is a large deposit. Bog ore is found in a great number of 
localities, such as Middleton, West Gwillimbury, Eardly, Marsh, 
Hull, Templeton, St. Maurice Forges, Stanbridge, &c. At the St. 
Maurice Forges smelting works have been carried on successfully 
for upw-ards of a century, the iron produced being singularly excel- 
lent in quality. The stoves produced at St. Maurice from this 
materia] enjoya high local reputation. In the vicinity a new 
work has recently been erected, and is in operation. 



CANADA. 43 

Titaniferous ore is found in abundance in the Eastern Town- 
ships of Lower Canada, and in other localities. Sulphuret of zinc 
has been found on Lake Superior, and sulphuret of lead in Fitz- 
roy, Bedford, and Bastard, and also in the County of Gaspe. 

Copper. — Sulphurets of copper of various characters, and native 
copper, (in small quantities,) are found in abundance on Lakes 
Superior and Huron. On Lake Huron the Montreal Mining 
Company have been engaged for some years in carrying on mining 
operations at the Bruce Mines, and have exported considerable 
quantities of crushed ore of good quality. Owing to the great 
distance, and the cost of conveyance, their success has been varied 
and uncertain, though they are possessed of a valuable mine. 
Sulphuret of copper has also been met with in the Eastern Town- 
ships of Lower Canada, at Upton, Acton, and Inverness. 

Silver. — Native silver has been met with at Prince's Location, 
Lake Superior, and elsewhere in that region, which, however, has 
not yet received that full exploration which it merits. 

Gold. — There is a large auriferous tract of country in Canada, 
though, in the opinion of the Provincial Geologist, it will not be 
found in sufficient quantities to repay any but skilled laborers. 
In the valley of the Chaudiere there are many indications 
of the existence of gold, and in fact, in the opinion of Mr. 
Loo;an, the o'old reo-ion covers a tract of 3000 miles, embrac- 
ino- the mountain ranges which are but a continuation of the 
Rocky Mountains. To a country possessed of so many natural 
advantage?, and so many elements of material prosperity as 
Canada, it is not, in the opinion of judicious men, desirable that 
gold should be found in such quantities as to create a rush to the 
diggings, and thus to interfere with the pursuits of legitimate 
industry, and the development of the less attractive but perhaps 
more permanently enduring sources of wealth. 

I now notice, adopting a classification which was carefully 
framed under scientific auspices, for the purposes of the Canadian 
effort at representation in the Great Exhibition, the chemical 
materials, being such as require peculiar chemical treatment to jit 
them for use ; said without specifying localities, mention, as having 
been already discovered in Canada : uranium, for the purposes of 
glass staining and porcelain painting, &c. ; chromium and cobalt, 
used for the same purposes ; manganese bog, for bleaching and 
decolorizing ; iron pyrites, for manufacture of copperas and sulphur ; 



44 CANADA. 

dolomite, containing 45 per cent, of carbonate of magnesia, for the 
manufacture of epsom salts and the magnesia of commerce ; and 
magnesite, containing 83 per cent, of carbonate of magnesia. 

Passing on to stone paints asageneral head, I notice that sulphate 
of barytes, largely used in mixing with white lead and also in the 
manufacture of Dutch white, is found in several localities. Iron 
ochre, for the manufacture of yellow ochre and Spanish brown, 
and Talcose slate, adapted to the making of yellow ochre and 
French white, are found in various localities. Soapstone is 
abundantly found, and ferruginous clay is also met with. Ochre 
is being manufactured near Three Rivers, by an American firm, 
for transport to New York. 

Lithographic stone of good quality is found in the Township of 
Marmora and also in Rama. 

Among materials applicable to jewellery and ornamental pur-" 
poses are found agates, jasper, labradorite, sunstone, hyacinths, 
amethystSy oriental rubies, ribboned chert (for cameos,) and jet. 
Materials for glass-making are to be obtained, viz : white quartz 
sandstone, for ordinary purposes ; and pitchstone, basalt, and allied 
rocks, for black glass. Among refracting materials have been 
discovered soapstone, asbestus, sandstone and plumbago. In the 
list of manures are included p>hosphate of lime, gypsum, and 
shell marl. 

Next, among grinding and polishing materials are found granitic 
and syenitic boulders, derived from the granitic or gneissoid rocks, 
and adapted for millstones, and silicious conglomerate, granular 
and corneous quartz rock, granite and pseudo-granite. Sandstones 
suitable for grindstones, though not of the very best quality, are 
also found among the Potsdam sandstone, and also in some por- 
tions of the Gaspe sandstone beds. Materials applicable for the 
making of whetstones and hones are freely found. Canadian 
tripoli, a silicious infusorial deposit, is found, used for polishing. 

Materials for paving and tiling are abundant. Quarries of 
roofing slates have been opened and manufactured at Kingsey and 
Shipton, and have been found in Halifax and Frampton. The 
slate from the Kingsey works is likely to come into extensive use, 
they being, as are also the Shipton works, easy of access to the 
City of -Montreal by railway. Flag stones are found in very great 
numbers. There is no lack of materials suitable for building 
purposes, and in great variety, viz : granite of superior quality, 



CANADA. 45 

white and durable pseudo- granite, sandstone, yellowish white 
calcareous sandstone and limestone. The latter material is that 
generally in use in the City of Montreal, and being a compact 
dark stone, imparts a peculiarly substantial appearance to the 
buildings and the whole city. Common lime is largely found, and 
material applicable to the making of hydraulic lime is also to be 
obtained. Clay, for the manufacture of red bricks, white bricks, 
tiles, and common pottery, is abundant. Owing to the want of 
stone at accessible distances, the buildings in the City of Toronto 
are chiefly constructed of white bricks, of superior excellence, 
made from the blue clay found in the vicinity. The bricks are 
compact and substantial, while the whiteness of the material gives 
an air of graceful elegance to the structures for which they are 
used. Marble of various qualities is found in many localities, and 
of varied character, viz : white, black, brown, grey, and mottled, 
variegated white, green, and verd antique. Serpentine, in many 
parts, suitable for ornamental purposes, is found in a range of 135 
miles, running through the Eastern Townships, and in another 
range of 10 miles running through Leeds. Combustible materials. 
As coal has not yet been discovered in Canada, and as from it s 
geological formation it is unlikely to comprehend within its limits 
any portion of the coal measures, though in the neighbouring 
Province of Nova Scotia it is found fortunately in immense fields, 
it is of consequence that peat is very abundant and may prove to 
some extent a profitable article of consumption for fuel. It is 
now being manufactured in one locality in the vicinity of Montreal, 
and is offered for sale in that city. Petroleum, naphtha and 
asphalt are also found. 

In closing this enumeration of the economic minerals and 
deposits of Canada, it may be remarked that even from this partial 
summary it is apparent that when the population of the country 
becomes more dense, and when increased attention is paid to the 
development of the mineral wealth of the province, and its prac- 
tical application, Canada will be found producing largely, and 
affording occupation, and the sources of respectable livelihood, to 
a large population engaged in the working of the mines and 
minerals which are so abundantly placed by the hands of Provi- 
dence within its limits. 



46 CANADA. 

We next, in the order we have defined, treat of 

THE FISHERIES. 

The produce of the fisheries is annually increasing. From the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence are obtained herrings of excellent quality, 
and in large quantities. Salmon are also caught, and large quanti- 
ties are cured. Codfish and mackarel are also prepared for market. 
The trade in these leading articles might be indefinitely increased, 
but is already rapidly advancing. The value of these products 
exported from the gulf and the lakes was in 1850 only £36,521 , 
but it amounted in 1852 to £74,462. This is in addition to and 
exclusively of the home consumption. These fisheries are carried 
on in Gaspe, on the north side of the Bay of Chaleurs, and on the 
coast of Labrador and the Magdalen Islands. The export from 
these latter islands, consisting exclusively of codfish, herrings and. 
mackarel, was in 1852 £11,096. In addition to the regular 
fisheries above mentioned, along both shores of the St. Lawrence 
below Quebec, salmon and herring fisheries are carried on by the 
resident proprietors in a primitive manner, by long walls of wicker- 
work terminating in a circle, into which, as the tides recedes, the 
fish are carried and detained. In this way the catch is often very 
large, and the herrings thus caught are fully equal to the celebrated 
Loch Fine. In addition to these fish, at certain seasons immense 
quantities of a delicate fish, popularly known as sardines, are taken 
in the weirs. The writer has known as many as 54 barrels taken 
in a weir in a single catch, and is firmly persuaded the trade in 
these might be made a profitable one. 

The fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence are thus spoken of 
in a paper prepared by Mr. Bouchette, and published by the 
House of Assembly in 1852 : 

" Rushing periodically, in certain seasons, from the Atlantic, 
whether by the passage of Canso or by the entrance of the gulf, 
between Cape Ray and Cape Lawrence, the cod, herring, had- 
dock, mackarel, and the various gregarious finny tribes, in im- 
mense shoals, spread along the vast extent of coast that is presented 
by the gulf shores of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, New-Brunswick, 
Gaspe, the north coast of the St. Lawrence, and Labrador, to the 
Straits* of Belle Isle, then along the western coast of Newfound- 
land, to Cape Ray, presenting upwards of 2000 miles of in-shore 
fisheries, besides the numerous rivers and streams which are 



CANADA. 47 

ascended for miles by salmon, as well as a quantity of fresh water 
iish, which form a very productive branch of the fisheries of 
these Provinces." 

In addition to the deep sea fisheries should be mentioned the 
seal fishery, which is prosecuted with considerable success by the 
inhabitants of the Magdalens, and has been found, from the value 
of the skin and oil, to supply a very productive staple article of 
export. 

Another branch of the fisheries is that of the white porpoise 
fishery. These fish are pursued for the sake of the oil they 
afford, and of late years it has been discovered that their skins are 
capable of being manufactured into very valuable leather. 

But in the fisheries of the great fresh water lakes, Canada is 
possessed of no inconsiderable resource. The trade is compara- 
tively a new one. White fish, lake trout, and sturgeon, of great size, 
abound in Lake Superior and Huron. White fish are also caught 
in large quantities in Lakes Erie and Ontario. The export from 
Lake Erie alone in 1851 was 3590 barrels, of the value of twenty- 
five shillings each. 

The fisheries are carried on chiefly on the south-west of Prince 
Edward County, on Lake Ontario, and on Lake Huron, and in 
1852 produced 11,884 barrels, principally of white fish and salmon- 
trout. The waters of Lakes Huron and Superior are teeming 
with life, and on the north shore of Lake Superior alone 30,000 
barrels might be yearly put up for market. 

As an instance of the way in which a trade springs up it may 
be mentioned that a small fish, the tom-cod, is caught with hook 
and line alono; the shores of the St. Lawrence at Rimouski and 
at Kacouna in summer. lu winter it comes up the stream as high 
as the St. Maurice, Three Rivers, and is there caught through holes 
cut in the ice, with nets, in large quantities. During the present 
winter it is stated by a local paper that 20,000 bushels have been 
sold in the Montreal market alone, realizing the sum of £2500 
as the produce of the Three Rivers fishery alone, exclusive of 
local consumption. 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE. 



By far the greater extent of the Canadas is admirably adapted 
for agricultural pursuits, as the export of agricultural products for 
the years 1852 and 1853 amply proves, the export of the former 



48 CANADA. 

year being £1,214,214 3s. 10d., and of the latter £1,995,094 15s. 
9d. ; while the total growth of wheat in 1851, in all Canada, is 
calculated by the Board of Registration and Statistics as having 
been 15,162,662 bushels. Of this quantity, 4,276,8?! bushels 
were exported in that year as wheat and flour. The home con- 
sumption is nearly 5^ bushels per individual. In the United States, 
during the last ten years, the growth of wheat has increased 48 per 
cent., while during the same period in all Canada it has increased 
upwards of 400 per cent. The average produce of wheat per acre 
in Upper Canada is 16'£J per acre, and in Lower Canada 7^. In 
the latter Province, during the last ten years, the growth of fall 
wheat has been either wholly abandoned or is only sown inter- 
mi ttingly, owing to the ravages of the fly, but it i% believed its- 
general cultivation may be eventually resumed. Black sea wheat 
is the variety now chiefly planted in Lower Canada, and is sown 
in the spring. Canada exports large quantities of butter of good 
quality. The amount of butter produced in the Upper Provinces 
has in three years increased 3*72 per cent., and that of cheese 233 
per cent.; but the returns are deficient as to Lower Canada. The 
soil of Canada is adapted and the climate favorably to the growth 
of wheat, peas, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, hay, hemp, and flax 
grass seed, Indian corn, and potatoes y and of all these large quan- 
tities are raised. Upper Canada is best adapted for wheat, and 
produces it most largely, but Lower Canada grows no inconsider- 
able quantity, and produces also large quantities of peas, oats, and 
the coarser grains generally. Its soil is also well adapted for the 
growth, of root crops, which should be more extensively grown, in 
view of the importance of fodder, which is rendered more valuable 
in consequence of the length of the winter. Flax and hemp 
might also be grown with great advantage to the country. Lower 
Canada is especially suited for their growth, and these articles 
might prove a great source of industrial wealth, and give employ- 
ment to a thrifty population. Hemp and flax grow with the 
greatest luxuriance. "The fibre of Canadian flax has been ascer- 
tained to be of the best description, and the Society for the Encour- 
agement of Arts years ago determined, by actual experiment, that 
Canadian hemp is equal to that from the Baltic." In view of the 
former large export of flax to Britain from Russia, and its present- 
interruption, it is nfost important that its growth should be encour- 
aged in Canada, as the demand in England is greater than the- 



CANADA. 4& 

supplj r . In 1851 the import into Britain, of flax and hemp, 
amounted to 2,495,672 cwt. Ireland produces a considerable 
quantity, but 100,000 tons mere fibre are consumed in Britain 
than is produced there, and this quantity Russia and Northern 
Europe has supplied to Britain at a cost of $50,000,000 or 
£12,500,000. This, then, is a favorable juncture for Canada to 
enter upon a new and profitable branch of industry. In the 
Chapter on Statistics fuller details will be found as to the agri- 
cultural products of Canada, and a contrast will there be instituted 
between the productiveness of the Province and that of some of 
the adjoining States of the American Union. From the great 
diversity of climate, the goodness of the soil, and its adaptation 
to the growth of the cereals, Canada cannot fail to continue to be, 
as it already is, a large exporter of wheat and other grains, and 
take high rank as an agricultural country. 



CHAPTER IV. 
MANUFACTURES. 



The manufactures of the Province are yet in their infancy, but 
are annually increasing in variety and extent, and rising in impor- 
tance. Lower Canada especially is admirably adapted for the 
extension of manufactures. The long winter, in which compara- 
tively few of the departments of out-door agricultural labour can 
be engaged in, and the peculiarly appropriate character of the 
industrious French Canadians of the interior, adapting them 
for such occupations, render it very desirable that the facilities 
afforded by the abundant water powers, and comparative cheap- 
ness and plentifulness of labour, capable of becoming skilled, should 
to a laro-e extent be taken advantage of. We shall then see from 
one of its fertile valleys to another a chain of thronging fac- 
tories extended ; and the clang of the heavy hammer, and the 
jar of the machinery, and the busy hum of human industry will 
mingle with and be heard high above the rapid splash and echo- 
ing fall of the many streams which, now lavish of power, invite 
the labour of the artisan. The clog of the Seignorial Tenure in 
Lower Canada has to some extent impeded the progress of this 
branch of industry, but as it may be now regarded among the 
things that were, I venture to predict that the day is not far dis- 



50 CANADA. 

tant when Canada — and Lower Canada especially — will be largely 
engaged in various manufactures, and add important contibutions 
in this way to the common wealth. Yet, even in their embryo 
state, many of the manufactures of the country are worthy of spe- 
cial notice. New branches of productive industry are continually 
arising, and new manufactures are carried on. For instance, the 
banks of the Laehine Canal at Montreal are beins: clustered with 
busy manufactories. A large sugar refinery has been erected. 
An India rubber manufactory is in active operation. Paint mills, 
axe factories, machine shops, nail and spike factories are carried on. 
The railway system has created large railway car and locomotive 
works. Marine, fire and other engine works are also carried on, as 
are also carding and fulling mills, and cotton and woollen factories. 
Among the other nascent manufactories of Lower as well as LTpper 
Canada may be mentioned tanneries, founder ies, pail factories, oat- 
meal and grist mills, lathe and planing mills, potteries, asheries, 
shingle factories, slate works, ochre works, soap and candle works, 
starch factories, distilleries, cooperages, brick yards, rope walks, 
thrashing mill factories, nail factories, chair factories, breweries, 
ship yards, barley mills, paper mills, saleratus works, match and 
rake factories. Ship-building is a very important trade in and about 
the City of Quebec, and gives employment to a very large number 
of hands ; while the colonial built vessels, for build and strength, 
have acquired a high reputation. In the year 1843 there were 
built at Quebec 48 vessels, tonnage 13,785, while in 1853 there were 
16 vessels, tonnage 51,63*7, showing a large and decided increase. 
The average annual value of vessels built at Quebec has been 
estimated at £500,000. Latterly an enterprising ship-builder 
has built several ships on Lake Ontario, and causing them to des- 
cend the St. Lawrence, freighted them from Quebec for Liverpool, 
and sold them there to advantage. Another very large branch 
of Lower Canadian manufactures is that of deals, from the north 
shore of the Ottawa between Montreal and Bytown, and from the 
valley of the St. Maurice, and the Saguenay country. A new 
branch of the timber trade has been established during the pres- 
ent year, in the transport, from the line of the St. Lawrence and 
Atlantic Railway, of shooks or boxes for sugar, for exportation to 
Cuba, one enterprising firm alone shipping to the value of 
£25,000 currency. 



CANADA. 51 

Passing on, with this brief and imperfect sketch, we find that the 
two great leading manufactures are those of timber, square and 
sawed, and of flour, these forming the great staples. As has been 
elsewhere stated, the manufacture of the bog-iron ore of Canada 
has been earned on profitably and successfully at Three Rivers 
for 100 years, and it is trusted that, before long, the vast mineral 
wealth which is contained in the immense deposits of magnetic 
and other iron ores of Canada will be turned to account. 

In addition to the manufactories mentioned as in operation in 
Lower Canada may be named, as being in existence in Upper 
Canada, besides those enumerated above, also scythe and rake 
factories, large a,nd extensive woollen cloth and blanket works, stone 
ware factories, mustard mills, plaster mills, sash factories, spade 
and shovel works, whip, broom, and cigar, and vinegar factories. 
Among the minor manufactures perhaps the tanneries may be 
mentioned as the most important and extensive : none of these have, 
however, yet attained to the position and extent of similar works in 
older countries, and some of them are humble enough in their cha- 
racter ; still the day of small things is not to be despised, and in 
these indications of industrial energy and activity can be foreseen 
those vast future workshops for which Canada may be the site, when 
its population shall have increased to but a tithe of the numbers, 
which it can sustain without overcrowding. 



CHAPTER V. 

COMMERCE. 

The commerce of Canada is being extended and developed 
with giant strides. It has passed the period of infancy, and 
attained a magnitude which may perhaps at first view seem dis- 
proportioned to the youth of the country ; for it is to be borne 
in mind, that in 1*782, what now constitutes the fertile, wealthy 
and populous Western Canada, with a population of over a million, 
was a wilderness. 

The merchants of Canada are energetic and enterprising. The 
Legislature of the Province is patriotic and attentive to the com- 
mercial and industrial interests, and the magnificent channels of 
inland communication which Providence has bestowed upon the 
country, are taken advantage of to the fullest extent, and assisted 



52 CANADA. 

by art, where nature has interposed obstructions. In the course of 
this chapter it is designed to refer to the imports and exports of 
the Province, indicating the various sources and branches of the 
trade of Canada, and explaining the advantages which the Cana- 
dian route to the great West of North America, holds out to the 
emigrant in preference to other routes, by means of its river, 
canal, and lake navigation, and the great system of railways now 
in progress. 

The total value of the imports into Canada in the year 1853 
was £7,995,359 Is. Id. Of this amount, £4,622,280 3s. lOd. was 
imported from Britain, £158,164 19s. 7d. from the British North 
American Colonies, and £2,945,556 17s. 0d. from the United 
States, the residue from other sources. For the same year the ex- 
ports of the Province were £5,950,325 15s. 4d. currency, of which 
£2,866,351 19s. 4d. were exported to Great Britain, £2,681,363 
15s. 8d. to the United States, £345,116 7s. lid. to the other 
North American Colonies, and £5,045 16s. lid. to the British 
West Indies. Of the imports the total amount of goods paying 
duty was £7,551,381 3s. 0d., of which £4,556,383 15s. 8d. 
were from Britain, and £2,664,145 lis. 5d. from the United 
States. In 1852 the exports were £3,826,901 15s. 5d., and the 
imports £5,071,623 3s. lid., showing an immense advance in the 
commerce of 1853 over the previous year, amounting, taking 
both imports and exports together, to 57 per cent. In 1849 the 
nett revenue from Customs Duties was £412,737 3s. 9d. ; in 1852 
it was £705,622 19s. 9d., but in 1853 it was £986,597 16s. lOd. 
currency. 

The following statements will show the nature, variety and ex- 
tent of the exports of the Province of Canada, and will afford some 
adequate conception of its position as a colony, and of its great 
resources, while they may give some indication of the future of 
the country. 

The total value of the exported produce of the mines of Canada 
was, in 1853, £27,339, of which copper ore furnished £23,020. 
The total export of the produce of the fisheries was £85,000 13s. 
8d. The produce of the forest, which was exported in 1853, is 
large, there having been exports from that source to the value of 
£2,355,255 2s. 2d., of which £1,682,125 12s. Id. found their way 
to Britain, and £652,534 5s. 4d. to the United States. Of ani- 
mals and their produce the export was £342,631 7s. Od. Vege- 



CANADA. 53 

table food constituted the second leading* export, viz: £1,995,094 
los. 9d., of which £1,219,801 14s. Gd. was exported to the United 
States, £502,160 4s. Sd. to Britain, and £2*73,068 16s. Id. to the 
other British North American Colonies. The export of manu- 
factures was £35,106 9s. OcL, to which is to be added, for ships 
built at Quebec during the year, say £620,187 10s. Od. currency ; 
the total value of exports from sea ports being £3,266,716 2s. 
lid., and from inland ports, £2,236,341 7s. 9d. From the sea- 
ward ports there were exported from 

Quebec £2,443,457 19 

Montreal 746,050 8 

Gaspe 82,667 19 11 

New Carlisle 29,942 14 6 

Amherst 14,597 1 6 

Further, in the year 1853, there arrived at the Port of Quebec 
1351 vessels, with a tonnage of 570,738. Of this number 1222 
were British, 51 United States, 87 were Norwegian, 27 Prussian, 
and the residue from other foreign countries, includino* 5 from 
Spain. In the same year 1406 vessels departed from this port, — 
the difference between arrivals and departures being due chiefly 
to newly built vessels, and to vessels from Montreal, cleared from 
Quebec, but not reported inwards. In the same year 243 vessels 
arrived at the inland port of Montreal, at the foot of the canal 
navigation. The movement of shipping on the inland waters, 
including coasting and the intercourse by these waters with the 
United States, was proportionably great, and appears greater by- 
contrast. In the year 1817 the two first Canadian steamers on 
Lake Ontario were built. In 1818, I learn, there was only one 
steamer on Lake Erie, and forty sailing vessels above Niagara 
Falls. 2\"ow there are hundreds. The inward tonnage of lake 
and river steamers in 1853 was 2,175,241 British and 1,102,239 
American, in all 3,277,480. In the same year the tonnage 
inwards of sailing vessels was 544,509, the outward tonnage of 
steamers was 3,076,509. Of these 2,070,117 were British and 
1,006,392 American, and of sailing vessels 571,814. The total 
inward and outward tonnage being 7,470,312. There were built 
within the Province, in 1853, 136 sailing vessels, with a tonnage 
of 57,722. 

The following tables, taken from the Provincial returns for 1853, 
are interesting, as giving a view of the leading articles of con- 



54 



CANADA. 



sumption, and of surplus production, which contribute to the direct 
ocean trade via the St. Lawrence. 

Summary Statement of goods imported into Canada from sea, via the St- 
Lawrence, showing the value of the principal articles imported during the 
year 1S53 : 



ARTICLES. 


VALUE. 


Coals 


£ 

25,333 

2,112 

26,655 

47,388 

11,072 

117,560 

925,343 

30,551 

29,253 

853,043 

23,386 

111,343 

236,3S9 

939,736 

30,125 

58,825 

44,366 

316,654 

19,759 

11,240 

172,705 

13,840 

14,615 

4,107 

4S9,660 


s. 

6 

1 


17 
14 

9 
17 
16 
11 

5 
16 

4 

8 
12 

6 
15 

2 
19 
14 
19 

7 
17 

3 
17 
16 


d. 
5 


Coffee 


7 


Cordage 





Tish 


2 




6 


Liquors 


9 


Manufactures — Cottons 


G 




9 


Glass 





Iron and Hardware 


9 




2 


Linen 


7 


Silk 


4 




6 




10 


Oil 


1 




2 


Railroad Iron 


3 




10 


Salt 


6 




7 




11 


Tea 


1 


Tobacco 


9 




9 






Add goods in transitu from the United States 


£4,555,074 
261,991 


2 



9 

4 






Total value of Imports via the St. Lawrence 


£4,817,065 


3 


1 



Statement showing the value of the principal articles exported from 
Canada by sea, via the St. Lawrence, during the year 1853. 



ARTICLES. 



Ashes, Pot and Pearl 

Butter 

Copper Ore 

Pish, dried and pickled. 
Flour. 



Purs and Skins. 
Pork 

Timber- 



-Ash 

Birch 

Deals 

Elm 

Lath 

Oak 

Plank and Boards 

White Pine 

Bed Pine , 

Spars, Masts and Handspikes. 
Staves 



Wheat 

Peas 

Other articles , 



Total Exports by sea via St. Lawrence £3,268,960 



VALUE. 



£ 

131.564 

37,0Sl 

8,420 

64,428 

505,368 

10,902 

31,164 

3,211 

6,152 

429,208 

57,022 

11,320 

75,498 

3,509 

627,572 

185,445 

21,117 

133,757 

218,886 

37,274 

670,044 



s. 

10 

6 



18 

5 

15 



11 

10 

16 

2 

17 



14 

15 

11 

3 

2 

13 

12 

14 



19 



d. 

2 

1 

6 

3 
5 
2 
5 
8 


11 


3 
1 
6 

7 



CANADA. 



55 



Recapitulation. 



Total Imports 

Goods in transitu for United States. 

Exports 

Value of ships built at Quebec 



Total value of Imports and Exports via. St. Lawrence. 



£ 
4,554,074 

261.991 
3,268.960 

620,1S7 


s. 

o 



19 

10 


£8,706,213 


12 



~J7 

9 

4 
2 




TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES. 

The trade between the Canadas and the adjoining United States 
is very large, and will be immensely stimulated by the Reciprocity 
Treaty, arranged and concluded at Washington in July, 1854, 
after long and protracted negotiations, conducted by Mr. Cramp- 
ton, the British Minister, and others, and urged on at the instance 
chiefly of the Canadian Executive. The Earl of Elgin and Kin- 
cardine, late Governor General of British North America, as a 
special representative of the British Government, concluded the 
final details of the Treaty, which was signed at Washington on 
the 5th day of June, 1854. 

The following table, extracted from a proposed Report of the 
Montreal Board of Trade, drawn up by an energetic merchant, 
will illustrate the growth of the trade : 

la 1849 the Exports to the United States were„ $1,481,082 

" Imports from " " " . .' 4,243,724 

"1850 " Exports to the " " " 4,285,470 

" Imports from " " " , . . 5,943,821 

"1851 " Exports to the " " " 4,956,471 

" Imports from " « " 7,929,140 

"1852 " Exports to the " " ■ 4,589,966 

" Imports from " K « 6,717,960 

while in 1853, as I learn from the official returns, the 

Exports to the United States were £2,6S 1,363 15s. Sd., or §10,726,455 

And the Imports from do. were £2,945,536 173. 0d., or $11,782,147 
which figures contrast singularly with the statement for 1849, and 
show a surprising extension of trade. 

THE RECIPROCITY TREATY. 

The Reciprocity Treaty will increase this trade to an incalcul- 
able extent. Flour, wheat, butter, and timber, were largely ex- 
ported in spite of the duty, but they will find their way across 
the lines with great freedom when this check is removed. It will 
therefore be well to notice the distinguishing features of this very 
important treaty, the parties to which were Great Britain and the 



56 CANADA. 

United States, but to give effect to which the united action of the 
Legislatures of Britain, Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 
and of Prince Edward's Island, and of the Congress of the United 
States of America, were necessary, the parent Government then 
for the first time recognizing the Colonies as entitled to participate 
in the giving effect to a Treaty in which their interests were 
affected. 

There remains now but the action of the British Legislature, to 
give effect to this measure, conceived in a large and liberal spirit, 
and calculated to produce very great results in its operations, on 
the commercial relations of the countries interested.* 

The Treaty, then, firstly opens up to the Americans the right to 
use the sea fisheries in the British waters, the salmon and river 
fisheries being excluded from its operation. 

Secondly, it provides that the following articles, the growth and 
produce of the British Colonies, or of the United States, shall be 
admitted into each country free of duty : 

Schedule. 

Grain, fiour, breadstuff's of all kinds. 

Animals of all kinds. 

Fresh, smoked and salted meats. 

Cotton, wool, seeds,* and vegetables. 

ITndried and dried fruits. 

Fish, products of fish, and of all other creatures living in the water. 

Poultry, eggs. 

Hides, furs, skins, or tails, undressed. 

Stone or marble in its crude state. 

Slate. 

Butter, cheese, tallow, lard, horns, manures, ores of metal of all kinds, 
coal, pitch, tar, turpentine, ashes. 

Timber and lumber of all kinds, round, hewed, sawed, manufactured, in 
whole or in part 

Firewood, plants, shrubs, trees, felts, and wools, fish, oil, broom com, and 
bavk, gypsum, ground or unground, hewn or wrought or unwrought burr or 
grindstones. 

Dye stuffs. 

Flax, hemp, and tow, unmanufactured. 

Unmanufactured tobacco. 

Rags. 

And thirdly, it throws open the navigation of the St. Lawrence 
and the canals during the will of the British Government to 

* This has been given since this Essay was written, and the Treaty is 
now in force. 



CANADA. 57 

American citizens, while it accords to the British and Canadian 
people the right to navigate Lake Michigan. 

Such are the leading features of this great Treaty, the results 
and operation of which it is impossible fully to realize. 

INTERCOLONIAL TRADE. 

Another branch of trade requiring special notice is that be* 
tween Canada and the sister North American Colonies. It would 
be very desirable that free trade in its fullest extent should be es- 
tablished between them, as the more their interests are assimilated, 
and a congeniality of feeling created, the more advantages will 
their intercourse prove to the whole of these important colonies , 
whose eventual union is beyond doubt desirable, and in fact is only 
a matter of time. The total value of the exports to these colo- 
nies from Canada was, in 1853, £345,116 7s. lid., of which the 
article of flour amounted to the sum of £238,804 7s. 6d. The 
value of the imports from these colonies in 1853 was £158,164 
19s. 7d. The large export of flour was owing to a species of reci- 
procity existing between the various colonies, by virtue of certain 
laws of their own Legislatures. In 1853 the value of the articles 
thus imported into Canada from the other Provinces, free of duty, 
was £97,647 16s. 4d. The increasing of the trade relations be- 
tween the Provinces is most desirable, as the coal and fish of the 
Lower Provinces can be profitably exchanged for flour, wheat, 
&c. From Halifax, also, large quantities of sugar are shipped to 
Canada. 

The writer has long entertained the firm conviction that the 
trade between Canada and the Lower Provinces is destined to 
become a large and extensive one. Nova Scotia especially is so 
well situated for commanding the trade of the West Indies that 
the trade between Canada and Halifax, owing to the peculiar 
geographical position of that port, cannot fail to be much devel- 
oped within a short period. The breadstuff's and timber of Canada 
will there find a market for home consumption, and for export 
to the West Indies. The schooners and other craft of our lakes, 
instead of lying idle during a long winter, and thus locking up a 
large capital, may yet, descending the St. Lawrence in the autumn, 
laden with breadstuff's, find a market for their cargoes in Cuba, 
Bermuda and Jamaica, and ply during the winter months between 
the Lower Provinces and the West Indian Islands, and finally 

E 



58 CANADA. 

return with a cargo of sugar in spring, to resume their" place on the 
Canadian lakes. It is true that the necessity of being early on the 
lakes in spring may interfere perhaps to prevent all our craft from 
engaging in this enterprise ; but the owner of several vessels would 
find the detention of a portion of his fleet for a month in early 
spring, while the remainder of it was actively engaged in the lake 
trade, amply compensated by the steady lucrative employment 
during the long winter of those vessels which had engaged in the 
intercolonial trade. If such a trade can be created, rendering 
productive during the whole year the large amount of capital en- 
gaged in the lake transit trade, it cannot but prove beneficial to 
the country, and that apart from the many other incidental ad- 
vantages which will arise from it. But whether this be found 
practicable or not, undoubtedly a large trade will be carried on 
during the summer months between Canada and the several lower 
ports, in breadstuffs and timber on the one hand, and in sugar, 
molasses, coal and fish on the other. If proper measures are 
adopted to free this trade from restrictions, and give it unfettered 
scope, a goodly fleet of provincial vessels will be found during sum- 
mer plying between Montreal, Quebec and Halifax, and in winter 
between Halifax and the West Indian Islands. If such measures 
be adopted as I have already hinted at, — if the coal and fish of 
Nova Scotia and the productions of the West Indian Colonies be 
admitted free of duty, they reciprocating by the free admission of 
our flour, wheat and timber, — all the Colonies would benefit ; a 
great trade would spring up, the St. Lawrence would assume its 
legitimate importance in relation to the supply through Canada 
of the Great West, and the Colonies would be drawn more closely 
together, and rendered mutually helpful of each other. 

It will be for the Canadian people therefore to consider whether 
their trade with the West Indian Colonies and the Lower Provinces 
cannot be put on ^ more favorable footing, and one reciprocally 
beneficial. A species of Zolverein might thus be created, contri- 
buting materially to the strengthening of the various British depen- 
dencies, and conducing to the extension of the intercolonial trader 

PASSENGER ROFTES. 

Having thus exhibited the results of the commerce of Canada, 
it will be interesting to notice briefly the advantages of the route 
through the Canadian waters and territory to the Western States. 



CANADA. 59 

.ate years, in addition to the immigration designed for actual 
settlement, large bodies of Irish, Norwegian, German, and other 
mental immigrants, have been pursuing their journey to 
Iowa, Wisconsin, and other Western States of the American 
Union, through the Canadas, — a branch of trade which is likely 
to increase to a very great extent. The densely peopled countries 
of Europe require to be relieved of their surplus population, and 
as the pressure from overcrowding becomes more severe, the State 
tinds the relief it needs, in the sending forth of swarms of the people 
to seek a home and a livelihood in America, there to become 
ultimately fused in the mass of the American people. This 
exodus, stimulated from time to time by accidental causes, and 
again depressed, has been proceeding for years; but whether it 
be in larger or lesser volume, the stream rolls on, and it becomes 
important to the emigrant that the best route should be selected, 
and its merits widely proclaimed. This, it is believed and confi- 
dently asserted, the Canadian passenger route can be shown to be. 
It is not sufficiently known that the sailing distance between 
Quebec and Liverpool is, — if the straits of Belle Isle be taken, 
some 400 miles, and if the southern route, 200 miles, — shorter 
than between Liverpool and New York. 

The distances are as follows : 

From Quebec to Liverpool, via North of Ireland and 

Straits of Belle Isle, 2680 miles. 

u Quebec to Galway, " " 1300 " 

" New York to " " 2815 " 

" " to Liverpool, 3073 " 

The use of maps on Mercator's projection, and indifferent ves- 
sels engaged in the lumber trade, have injured the Canadian 
route ; but with an increased number of the regular trading and 
passenger vessels, and the lines of Canadian steamers, this prejudice 
is being dispelled, and justly so. As another advantage of the Cana- 
dian route it is important to consider that a third of the distance 
to Quebec is within the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, where a 
steamer will sail faster, being less impeded there than by the heavy 
swells of the x\tlantic. Farther, on arriving at Quebec the emi- 
grant is enabled to embark with his family and effects on board 
a steamer, and "with a transfer at Montreal and, in some instances, 
though not necessarily, at Kingston, pursue his way to Hamilton, 
where he may take the Great Western Railway to Detroit. 



60 CANADA. 

While less subject to imposition, the facilities by the Canada 
route, for transit, are greater. Transport is speedier, and the 
cost is less than via the States route. Emigrants to the Western 
States, proceeding via New York, have to make three tranship- 
ments. If by the Erie Canal they take about 18 days to reach 
Detroit, whereas, by coming to Quebec, they have but one tran- 
shipment, and are taken up in steamers in six days, at much less 
expense, the passage across the Atlantic being also cheaper. 

As regards the transport of flour, and other heavy articles, from 
the West to the sea-board, it seems evident that the St. Lawrence 
canal and lake navigation affords such facilities as the Erie Canal 
cannot successfully compete with, more especially when the Cham- 
plain Canal shall have been constructed. Vessels can be laden at 
Oswego, and descend to Quebec, carrying 3300 barrels of flour, 
while the burden of the Erie Canal boats is about *700 barrels only, ' 
and the transit through this canal very tedious. 

OCEAN STEAMERS. 

An interesting feature in the trade of Canada is the establishment 
of three lines of ocean steamers, designed to trade between Montreal 
and Quebec and Liverpool in summer, and Portland (with which 
Montreal is connected by the Grand Trunk line of railway) and 
Liverpool in winter. It may be here remarked that a sum of 
£19,000 sterling per annum has been appropriated by Act of the 
Legislature, for seven years, for the purpose of establishing a line 
of steam vessels between Canada and Liverpool in summer, and 
Portland and Liverpool in winter. One of these lines belongs to 
the " Canadian Steam Navigation Company," a British Company 
which has now the Mail contract, and has been running vessels for 
a year past. The second Company, the " Montreal Ocean Steam- 
ship Company," is a Canadian Company, its chief promoters being 
the Messrs. Edmonstone, Allan & Company, who are already pos- 
sessed of a goodly line of sailing traders. It is probable that these 
'two companies may amalgamate. The third is the " Canada 
Ocean Steamship Company," its principal place of business being 
in Montreal, but a large portion of its stock being held in Upper 
Canada. Beyond doubt these lines, evincing much enterprise, will 
contribute very materially to the development of the trade of the 
Province. 



CANADA. 61 

THE CANALS OF CANADA. 

The Welland Canal, by which the Falls of Niagara are avoided, 
was commenced in an early period of the history of Upper Canada, 
and forced upon the attention of the public chiefly by the energy 
and perseverance of the Honorable W. H. Merritt. It is a very 
important work. Its locks are 150 feet in length of chamber, by 
a width of 26^ feet, its dimensions being well suited for the class 
of vessels best adapted to the western lakes, and of which large 
numbers pass through it, as well of Canadian as American crafts. 
This canal is 28 miles in length, having about 30 cut-stone locks. 
It surmounts an elevation between Lakes Ontario and Erie of 330 
feet, while the elevation from tide-water to Lake Ontario, being 
over 200 feet, is overcome by the St. Lawrence Canals, seven in 
number, of various lengths, from 12 miles to one mile, (but in the 
aggregate only 41 miles of canal,) having locks 200 feet in length 
between the gates, and 45 feet in width, with an excavated trunk 
from 100 to 140 feet wide on the water surface, and a depth of ten 
feet of water. These canals are chiefly used for ascending the 
stream, as large steamers drawing seven feet of water, with passen- 
gers and mails, leave Kingston, at the foot of Lake Ontario, in the 
morning, and without passing through a single lock, reach the 
wharf at Montreal the same day before dark. 

A survey of the rapids is now being proceeded with, with the 
view of removing some obstructions. The time required for the 
descent of a freight steamer from the head of Lake Ontario to 
Montreal is 48 hours. The rates of freight ran^e from 7 Id- the 
lowest, to Is. 3d. per barrel of flour, including tolls. The ruling 
freight on railway iron from Montreal to Cleveland last year was 
12s. 6d. per gross ton, and for the return cargo of flour 30 cents 
per barrel, tolls included. 

The great chain of canals is proposed to be completed by the 
construction of a ship canal, the Champlain Canal, from the St. 
Lawrence to Lake Champlain, so as to enable the propellers of 
Chicago to reach Burlington and Whitehall. The navigation of 
the Upper Ottawa is also designed to be improved by canals, but 
the works have only just commenced, a canal being in progress at 
the Chats.* 



* Siuce this Essay was written, much interest has been awakened towards 
the subject of the improvement of the Ottawa. The scheme of building a 
ship eaual to afford an outlet for the products of the great West of the Uni- 



62 CANADA. 

The Rideau Canal has been noticed elsewhere. The total move- 
ment of freight through the Welland Canal in 1853 was 905,516 
tons, exclusive of the tonnage of the vessels and passengers ; and 
the tolls were £65,034 5s. 7d. On the St. Lawrence Canals the 
movement in the same year was 561,601 tons (with the same 
exclusion,) and the tolls £22,108 7s. 6d. In the year 1853 there 
passed through the Welland Canal 2743 British sailing vessels and 
917 steamers, and 2705 Foreign (American) sailing vessels and 
349 steamers. Through the St. Lawrence Canals there passed in 
the same year 5457 British sailing vessels and 2173 steamers, 
and 124 foreign sailing vessels and 51 steamers. The total num- 
ber of vessels of all classes passing through all the canals of Canada 
in that year was 20,406 with a tonnage of 2,138,654 tons. The 
gross receipt of tolls from the canals was in 1847, £50,131 16s. Id., 
and the nett receipts £41,132 5s. Id., while in 1853 they were 
£95,814 5s. 2d. and £79,494 14s. 7d. And, to specify more par- 
ticularly, the gross revenue from the canal tolls, from each of the 
canals, in 1853, was as follows : 

Welland Canal, £65,034 5 7 

St. Lawrence Canals 24,001 5 1 

Chambly Canal 2,126 9 10 

Burlington Bay Canal 5,625 16 9 

St. Ann's Lock on the Ottawa 919 5 6 

£97,707 2 9 
Less tolls refunded passing canals 1,892 17 7 

£95,814 5 2 

On the whole, it may safely be asserted that no country in the 
world is possessed of more important and extensive canals, or a 
more magnificent system of inland navigation than is Canada. 
The canals of Canada now afford a large revenue, and accommo- 
date a large trade, but they are yet destined to be the media of 

ted States has been warmly taken up, and the rival merits of a route con- 
necting Lake Huron with Lake 'Ontario by way of Toronto, and of the route 
pursued by the early voyageurs by way of the Ottawa are strongly urged. 
In favor of the latter it is represented that, while in other respects possess 
ing equal advantages, it would open up a wide tract for settlement, and 
tend to developing the great resources of the Ottawa country. The inhabi- 
tants of Chicago have taken a deep interest in the former, and are strongly 
impressed with the importance and the necessity of a ship canal. 



CANADA. 63 

communication for the vast numbers of vessels which the direct 
ocean trade, the interprovincial trade, and the carrying trade of 
the Canadas and of the great West will employ, when that trade, 
as it must eventually do, shall seek its natural outlet through the 
waters and valley of the St, Lawrence. 

I now proceed to treat of those other means of communication 
which, in a country like Canada, are peculiarly important: i 
mean its 

RAILWAY SYSTEM. 

As the navigation of the St. Lawrence is ice-locked during the 
winter season, the means of speedy communication with the sea- 
board and with the various parts of the interior is especially 
important, and this boon the great chain of railways now in pro- 
gress is designed to afford. 

In Canada, thus far, there are three great lines, suggested by 
and accommodated to strongly marked natural divisions of the 
country, to which the others will prove tributaries or feeders. It 
is here worthy of remark that the Canadian Legislature evinces a 
feeling decidedly adverse to the encouragement of competing lines, 
under a conviction that in a new and comparatively sparsely set- 
tled country like Canada competition between railways cannot 
but be injurious. 

The first of these great lines is the Grand Trunk Railway, which 
it is proposed to run through Canada from east to west, span- 
ning the St. Lawrence at Montreal by the gigantic Victoria Bridge, 
now in course of construction. 

The second is the Great Western line, traversing one of the 
most fertile sections of Canada, and now in steady operation, and 
showing large and increasing returns of traffic. 

The third is the Ottawa Valley line, composed of various links, 
and designed to extend, in the meantime, from the City of Mon- 
treal to Pembroke, and eventually to Lake Huron and the Sault 
Ste. Marie. The distance from Montreal to the Georgian Bay, 
being by the Ottawa about 400 miles against 1000 by the St. 
Lawrence. With reference to this line it may be remarked that it 
is possible that the time may come when this, the most favorable 
route, will be adopted for the construction of a railway from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific. The importance of such a line, as a means 
of shortening the travel to China and the East Indies, and as con- 



64. CANADA. 

tributing to tKe development of the resources of an immense 
country, is very great, and cannot be over-estimated. 

THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY. 

The Grand Trunk Railway is to some extent a Provincial- 
enterprise, the Province of Canada having a large monied interest 
in it, and being represented at its board of management by 
Directors named by the Government. From what has been, 
stated it will be seen that it is a very important work, traversing 
as it does the frontier of Canada, and extending from Quebec 
to Western Canada, with a branch to the Atlantic port of 
Portland in Maine. The Grand Trunk Railway will over- 
come for Canada the disadvantages of the closing of navigation 
by winter ; while from its peculiar position it will be tapped at 
convenient intervals by lateral branches, developing the interior, 
and affording to the main line much traffic. It is a large and 
comprehensive scheme, one in keeping with the future of this great 
country. A useful and interesting feature in its plan is the span- 
ning the St. Lawrence at Montreal by what will be the world- 
famed iron tubular Victoria Bridge, eclipsing by its gigantic 
dimensions the celebrated Menai Bridge. This bridge is intended 
to be constructed on twenty-four piers, with spans for navigation, 
exclusive of the two abutments, whence the tubes are to spring, on 
either side. The centre span will be 330 feet wide, and each of 
the other twenty-four spans will be 220 feet wide. The abutments 
from which the tubes spring will be each of them 242 feet long 
and 90 feet wide, and from the north shore of the St. Law T - 
rence to the north abutment there will be a solid embankment of 
1200 feet in length. The embankment leading from the south 
shore of the river will be 600 feet. The length of the bridge 
from abutment to abutment, and its total length from river bank 
to river bank, will be 10,284 feet, or about fifty yards less than 
two English miles. The clear distance between the under surface 
of the centre tube and the average summer level of the river is to 
be 60 feet, and the height will diminish towards either side with a 
grade at the rate of one in 130, or 140 feet to the mile. 

This gigantic structure is in progress, and when in successful 
operation* will prove a world's wonder. It will add another to 
the existing sources of attraction which now everv summer draw 
through the Canadian inland waters immense throngs of American; 



CANADA. 65 

travellers, many of whom return year after year with unflagging 
interest, to make the tour from the celebrated Falls of Niagara^ 
across the lakes, and down the boiling foaming rapids of the 
St. Lawrence. The voyage- down these rapids is exhilirating and 
exciting, and is performed daily during the season of navigation 
by large steamers, as yet without a serious accident. 

The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada is to be, when finished, 
1112 miles in length, including the former Atlantic and St. 
Lawrence Railway of Maine, but now known as the '• Portland 
Section of the Grand Trunk Railway." It is a line of peculiar 
importance to Canada. It will receive a large proportion of the 
traffic of a region extending 809 miles in one direction, from 
Portland to Lake Huron, and containing a population of nearly 
three millions in Canada, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. 
At Portland it connects with the system of railways reaching 
eastward towards the Province of New Brunswick, as well as 
southward, by lines already existing, to Boston and New York. 
From Richmond it runs eastward 100 miles to Quebec, and is 
intended to be continued from Quebec to Trois Pistoles, 153 miles 
more, giving access in summer to the former large shipping port, 
and may at some future day also afford a communication by rail to 
the Atlantic at Halifax, by Trois Pistoles and Mirimichi, through 
the Province of New Brunswick. At Montreal it connects by 
existing lines with Boston and New York as well as with Portland. 
Passing on along the frontier, and receiving many feeders hereafter 
to be noticed, it reaches Toronto, and thence traverses the heart of 
the rich western section of Western or Upper Canada, and must 
inevitably command a very large traffic. At its terminus at Port 
Sarnia it will debouch on Lake Huron at a point most favorably 
situated for the navigation extending through Lakes Huron and 
Michigan. At Port Sarnia the American roads in course of con- 
struction will place it in connection with Iowa, Minnesota and. 
the " great West," as it is termed, of the American Union. 

The length of the Grand Trunk Railway at present in operation 
is 392 miles. It consists of 292 miles from Portland, via Rich- 
mond, to Montreal, and 100 from the Richmond Junction to Point 
Levi, opposite Quebec. The Richmond Station cannot fail ere 
long to become an important place for the interchange of traffic, 
passenger as well as freight. The contractors are under engage- 
ment to have in operation a total of 295 miles in 1855, so that er% 



66 CANADA. 

the year closes, the Grand Trunk Railway will probably consist of 
687 miles of road in operation. 

The author gathers the ensuing information from the recent 
Annual Report of the Directors of the Grand Trunk Company, 
with regard to this important Provincial work. The Quebec and 
Richmond section is in good running order, the distance between 
Quebec and Montreal, 168 miles, having been accomplished in 
■5^ hours. The section from Montreal to Brockville is in a very 
advanced state, and is expected to be open for traffic in November. 
1855. The middle section, from Brockville to Belleville, 95 miles, 
is in active progress. The remaining 113 miles, westward to 
Toronto, have not hitherto been proceeded with extensively, 
excepting for 40 miles eastward of Toronto. The works of the 
western section from Toronto to Stratford, 90 miles, are fast 
drawing to a close. 

Quebec and Trois Pistoles. — The works upon the section to St 
Thomas, 40 miles, are generally forward. 

Victoria Bridge. — The works upon this important structure are 
for the present proceeded with, only to a limited extent, owing to 
the position of the money market. 

When the works upon this great line are completed, there 
will be a continuous railway connection, via Canada, between 
Quebec and Michigan and Maine and Michigan. Detroit will 
be distant from Portland 872 miles by this route, which is at 
least 50 miles less than by the way of New York, and as the 
whole line will be under one connected system of management, 
passengers or freight will necessarily be carried cheaper and more 
expeditiously. 

THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. 

Next comes the Great "Western Railway of Canada. This line, 
carried through to successful operation by surprising local energy, 
runs from Windsor, on the Canadian side of the Detroit River, 
opposite the city of that name, to the City of Hamilton, and 
thence to Niagara Falls, where it connects, by a gigantic railway 
suspension bridge thrown across the Niagara River about two 
miles below the falls, with the system of railways in the State of 
New York, which run from Lake Ontario towards the " tide 
water " of the Hudson River. The Great Western is in active 
/operation, and is carrying very large numbers of passengers, and 



CANADA. 



67 



much way and through freight. It passes chiefly through a fertile, 
populous and wealthy country, and cannot fail to continue a highly 
remunerative line, — as it now in feet is, — and that to an extent 
that will be apparent from the ensuing extract from the Annual 
Report of the Board of Directors, dated 31st August, 1S55 : — 

" The Directors of the Great Western Railway have much pleasure in 
laying before the shareholders the accompanying statements of account, for 
the half-year ending the 31st July, 1855, from which it will be seen that the 
net revenue from the working of the line, after deducting interest upon the 
Government loan and the Company's bonds, amounts to. . . .£70,614 18 11 
which is equal to a dividend upon the share capital of 9-| per 
cent, per annum. But by the Act of Parliament under which 
the loan from the Provincial Government was obtained, a 
sinking fund of 3 per cent, per annum upon such loan has to 
be paid before any dividend is declared. This absorbs a sum, 
for the half-year, of £1 1,250 

Leaving the available balance £59,364 18 11 

From which the Directors recommend the payment of a divi- 
dend, at the rate of 8 per cent, per annum, on the share 
capital of £1,429/725, requiring £57,189 



And leaving to be carried to the credit of the next half-year, £2,175 18 11 
The following comparative statement of the traffic during the eighteen 
months that the Great Western Railway has been in operation will afford 
satisfactory evidence of the rapid development of the sources of business 
from which the Company derives its present prosperous condition, and also 
some guide as to the probable increase of traffic in future: — 

PASSENGER TRAFFIC. 



Half Years 
ending 



Local. 
No. I Am't. 



Through 
No. I Am't. 



Total 
No. I Am't. 



July 31, 1854 
Jan. 31, 1855 
July 31, 1855 



155.191 
191757 
198,996 



59.962 
66,928 
66,832 



55,737 
77,826 
89,435 



58,724 

76,458 

104,068 



210,928 
269,583 
28S.431 



118,686 
143,386 
170,901 



FREIGHT TRAFFIC. 



Six months ending 



Local 
Am't. 



Through 
Am't. 



Total 
Am't. 



July 31, 1854, 
Jan. 31, 1S55. 
July 31, 1855. 



19,745 
34,306 
41.987 



21,674 
17,026 
36,305 



31,419 
51,332 
7S,292 



The prospects of traffic for the future are very encouraging, the present 
weekly receipts averaging an increase of upwards of £4000 over those of 
the corresponding period of last year. The average weekly receipts for the 
half-year ending 31st July, 1855, have amounted to £9585, and for tha 
whole year to £8537." 



68 CANADA. 

OTHER RAILWAYS. 

A railway, leased by the Great Western Company, called the 
" Hamilton and Toronto Railway," forty miles in length, will be 
opened early next year. At Toronto it will connect with the 
Grand Trunk line by a station common to both, as well as to 
the " Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway." This important line 
runs for the first fifty miles due north from Toronto to Lake Simcoe, 
skirting for a few miles the southern shore of the lake, and 
" Georgian Bay " (the eastern extremity of Lake Huron,) to 
Collingwoocl Harbour, the distance of which from Toronto is ninety- 
six miles. Sixty-four miles of this railway have been opened 
since the early part of 1853, and the whole ninety-six miles are 
now completed. This line has already afforded an outlet for a 
large trade. Retracing our steps to the east, we now speak 
of those lines, in addition to the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Rail- 
ways, which run north and south, and which may be considered 
as feeders to the great arterial railway system that runs from east 
to west throughout nearly the entire extent of the Province, 
Nearest to Montreal, and having its terminus in that city, is the 
Montreal and Bytown Railway. Bytown, now the City of Ottawa, 
is the Capital of the Ottawa territory, through which the river of 
the same name flows, having in its basin 80,000 square miles of 
forest land, from which, as already fully stated, the chief markets 
of Europe are supplied with the finest timber in the world. The 
total length of this line will be 120 miles, of which thirteen miles 
in the centre are in operation, viz : between Carillon and Grenville, 
an important section, there being there an interruption otherwise 
than by canal of the navigation of the Ottawa. This line is the 
first link of the Ottawa line, and at Bytown it will connect with 
the line of the Bytown and Pembroke Railway, which is to run 
from Bytown to Arnprior, a distance of some thirty-five miles, 
through the County of Carleton, a wealthy and populous county. 
This line will command a large way traffic in supplies for the 
lumber trade from Bytown, and also an extensive passenger trade, 
the number of people employed in the lumber trade constantly 
ascending and descending from and to Bytown being very great. 
Arnprior is situated at the mouth of the Madawaska River, and 
here the Brockville and Ottawa Railway, running from Brockvilie, 
where it intersects the Grand Trunk Railway, will strike the 
Ottawa, connecting with the Arnprior line. 



CANADA. 69 

From Arnprior, the Brockville and Ottawa Railway will run 
parallel with the Ottawa River to the rising village of Pembroke, 
penetrating the heart of the great Ottawa valley, — a country of 
which few are in a position to form, a competent estimate, and for 
which this noble line of railway will be the highway -to Montreal 
and the ocean, — while, when extended from Pembroke, a distance 
of one hundred and eighty miles, to Lake Huron, — as at no distant 
date it will undoubtedly be, — it must prove one of the great chan- 
nels of communication to Minnesota and the great West, and from 
thence downwards to the Atlantic by the St. Lawrence in summer, 
and in winter via the Victoria Bridge to Portland. 

At about 25 miles west of Montreal the Grand Trunk Railway 
crosses the Ottawa bv a bridge which is undoubtedlv the second 
work in importance in the entire length of that railway. 

Prescott, which will be 112 miles west of Montreal by railway 
distance, receives the "Bytown and Prescott Railway." It is 50 
miles in length, and its course is due north and south. It is 
opened throughout its entire extent for traffic. The gauge 
of the railway differs from that of all the other railways of 
Canada, with the exception of the Montreal and Lachine Railway, 
which is but 9 miles long. The Provincial gauge is 5 feet 6 inches, 
whereas the Bytown and Prescott is only 4 feet 8^ inches. This rail- 
way connects with the railways leading to Boston, and the means 
of capitalists of that city have been largely invested in it. At Brock- 
ville, 13 miles west of Prescott, the Brockville and Ottawa Rail- 
way, already mentioned, falls into the Grand Trunk Railway. The 
next tributary of the Grand Trunk Railway is at Cobourg, a very 
nourishing town on Lake Ontario, exactly due north of Rochester, 
The spirit and energy of Cobourg, in building, with funds raised 
it may be said exclusively in the town, (the population of which is 
about 5000,) a railway of 28 miles in length, deserves every com- 
mendation. The Cobourg and Peterborough Railway (for so it is 
called) is already receiving an amount of traffic which its pro- 
moters could hardly have anticipated, and will be the means of 
developing the town and district with rapidity. 

Seven miles to the west is Port Hope, another very flourishing 
town on the banks of Lake Ontario, and the rival of Cobourg in 
enterprise and industry. It is about to be connected with the 
" back country " by the " Port Hope and Lindsay Railway," the 
length of which is 36 miles. The works are in progress, but no 
immediate time is named for its opening. 



70 CANADA. 

Proceeding west, corning to Toronto, the largest city in Upper 
Canada, and destined to be one of the great centres of trade, we 
have the " Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway," already des- 
cribed, while the most westerly line in Canada open for traffic, 
having a north and south direction, is a railway built by American 
influence, and partly by American capital, though chiefly by local 
funds, the " Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich Railway," which 
connects Buffalo and the State of New York with Lake Huron at 
Goderich, by a line of 160 miles in length, and which saves, as 
compared with the water route by Lake Erie and the Rivers De- 
troit and St. Clair, fully 400 miles. It also, by its connection with 
the Great Western Railway at Paris, places Buffalo within eight 
hours of Detroit, which is less than half the time it requires to go 
between those two cities on Lake Erie. At Stratford, 90 miles 
west of Toronto, this railway crosses the Grand Trunk line, and 
at this point it will divide the traffic flowing from Lakes Huron 
and Superior, by sending that intended for the United States to 
Buffalo, and that for Canada and Portland over the Grand Trunk 
Railway. Eighty miles of this important line, from opposite Buf- 
falo to Paris, are in operation. 

By the close of the year 1856, (as an authority, to which the 
writer acknowledges his indebtedness for much of the foregoing 
information, assumes,) Canada may fairly calculate on having 
about 2000 miles of fully equipped railway, which will cost 
her about £18,000,000 sterling. If, profiting by British expe- 
rience, rash undertakings be avoided, and the construction of 
competing lines be hindered and avoided, the extension of the 
railway system will doubtless prove advantageous to the country 
at large, by developing ite resources and accommodating and 
stimulating its industry. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF CANADA. 

These will be viewed under the following general heads, viz : — 

1st, Municipal Institutions; 2nd, The Municipal Loan Fund, 

created for the purpose of aiding, by Governmental control and 

support, undertakings which though to some extent, sustained by 

private enterprise may yet be regarded as for the general ira- 



CAKADA. 71 

proveraent of the country ; 3rd, The facilities afforded by 
the Legislature for working out certain Social Institutions, such as 
Mechanics' Institutes and Library Associations, and of organising 
Companies for the engagement in manufactures, and the con- 
struction of roads and harbours, &c. ; 4th, The Postal System ; 
5th, The Legal and Judicial System ; 6th, The Banking System 
of Canada ; And, lastly, the Press also may be viewed as a great 
Social Institution, widely pervading all classes of society, and 
exercising a weighty influence over the mind of Canada. 

I. THE MUNICIPAL SYSTEM. 

The municipal system of Upper Canada is comprehensive and 
efficient. It is adapted, in a very high degree, to the wants of the 
country, is wrought out with fidelity, and is proving highly ser- 
viceable, by teaching the people the habit of self-government, and 
by familiarizing them with the routine of business, localizing the 
system of legislation, and training up everywhere men for the 
various positions, in private and public life, to which industry 
energy and ability may elevate them. A somewhat similar sys- 
tem prevails in Lower Canada, but as a Bill is now before Par- 
liament, supported by the Executive, to assimilate the features of 
the Lower Canadian system to those of Upper Canada, it will be 
unnecessary here to dwell upon it. The Upper Canadian system 
is a comprehensive one, having been adapted and improved from 
time to time, as circumstances suggested necessarv chancres. 
Originally, it embraced only the then districts which were gov- 
erned locally by District Councils. Tested by actual experience, 
the system met approval, and the present system was introduced, 
and gives general satisfaction. 

Each county or union of counties (counties, weak in popula- 
tion being clustered together, till they gain strength, and are 
then separated into distinct divisions,) is presided over by a 
County Council. 

A county is composed of townships, whose internal affairs are 
regulated by Township Councils, while each county is governed, as 
to its local matters, by a County Council consisting of the Town 
Reeves and Deputy Reeves of the several townships, villages and 
towns in each county. The Reeves are the heads of the Town- 
ship Councils, each township being divided into rural wards, and 
its local affairs managed by a Council of five, elected by the free- 
holders of the wards. Every township having 100 resident free- 



72 CANADA, 

holders is a corporate body electing a Reeve •; when possessed of 
500 freeholders it has a right to name a Deputy Reeve, who, 
with its Reeve, or Municipal Head, is entitled to a seat in the 
^County Council. The elections are held annually. Each Town- 
ship Council has power to erect a Town Hall ; to purchase the 
necessary property for Common Schools, and to provide for their 
establishment and support •; to establish pounds ; to appoint fence 
viewers, overseers of highways ; to construct drains, water courses, 
and, under certain restrictions, highways ; to regulate inns ; to 
grant permission to companies to proceed with roads, and to 
take stock in them ; to enforce the performance of statute labour; 
to borrow monies for township purposes, to raise by way of tax 
the monies required for such purposes ; with other powers defined 
and expressed by Statute. 

The County Council, composed of the Reeves and Deputy - 
Reeves, is presided over by a Warden elected annually. 

Thev are charged with the keeping up of the Court House, 
Gaol, and Shire-Hall, raising the necessary funds by rate on the 
county. All roads and bridges between different townships 
are under the exclusive control of the County Council. They 
have power to purchase property for county purposes, to erect 
Court Houses, Gaols, Houses of Correction, Houses of Industry, 
and other buildings ; to purchase necessary property for Grammar 
School purposes, to make such provision in their aid as they deem 
necessary ; to provide permanently for the support of such pupils 
in attendance at the University as may compete from the Gram- 
mar Schools for exhibitions therein ; to settle the remuneration of 
all county officers ; to regulate ferries ; to construct and repair 
roads, lying within two or more townships ; to regulate driving 
over bridges ; to grant monies by loan or otherwise in aid of county 
works ; to take stock in Road Companies ; to raise money by tax for 
county works, <fec, &c. 

The Council have power to set apart into police villages such 
hamlets as are not in population sufficient to become incorporated 
villages; and such villages are governed by a Board of Police. 
Villages having a population of over 1000 become, on compliance 
with certain formalities, incorporated villages, having a Council of 
five to regulate their internal matters, roads, streets, harbour? 
markets, prevention of fires, &c. 



CANADA. 73 

So soon as a village attains, by the Census, a population of 
3000 inhabitants, it may be erected into a town, governed as to 
local matters by a Mayor and Town Council, and, as well as the 
incorporated villages, represented in the County Council by the 
Reeve and Deputy Reeve. 

On a town attaining a population of over 10,000 inhabitants it 
may be erected into a city, having a county, as it were, within 
itself, and being governed by a Mayor, Aldermen and Council, in 
local matters. 

The head of each Corporation is, ex officio, a Justice of the 
Peace. Collectors are appointed by the counties, and assessors 
rolls are kept. Auditors of accounts are also appointed. The 
By-laws of such Councils are subject to revision by the Court of 
Queen's Bench. 

On review of this brief summary it is evident that this great 
system is a most advantageous and useful one, and while its 
beneficial effects are already felt, it cannot fail to conduce 
materially to developing the energies of the people, fostering self- 
reliance, creating a respect for the general Government, and pro- 
moting the improvement of the country. 

As connected immediately with this, may be mentioned 

II. THE MUNICIPAL LOAN FUND. 

Constituted under Acts of the Provincial Legislature, this 
important fund is under the management of the Executive Gov- 
ernment, and is designed to aid in the construction of railways, 
public roads, and gas and water works. The amount of the 
fund is limited to £3,000,000 in all, — one-half for each section 
of the Province. When it is decided by a Municipality to aid 
such a work by taking stock or lending money on mortgao^e to 
the Company, a By-law must be introduced into and passed by 
the Council of the Municipality therefor, which is then submitted 
to a direct vote of the freeholders. If the vote be in the arErma- 
tive the Council ratify it, and if the Executive Government of the 
Province sanction it, on its being submitted to them, the By-law 
becomes operative and valid, no antecedent formalities beiDg ques- 
tionable ; and Debentures are then issued for the Municipality, 
payable by the Province of Canada out of the Municipal Loan Fund. 
This fund is managed by the Receiver General ; and the Munici- 
palities are bound to pay to the Receiver General, and provide 



74 CANADA. 

by assessment on all the rateable property within their bounds, 
6 per cent, interest, and 2 per cent, per annum to be applied towards 
a sinking fund, designed to extinguish, at the expiration of the term, 
of the Debentures, the municipal debt. Protected by so many 
safeguards, the fund is based on a sound principle, protecting the 
interests of the bond-holders, and aiding legitimate undertakings, 
with the sanction and control of the Provincial Executive. 

III. THE PRACTICAL LEGISLATION OF CANADA. 

As a whole the Legislation of Canada is believed to be of a 
very comprehensive, practical character, and well fitted to aid in 
developing to the fullest extent the resources of this growing coun- 
try. Acts of the Legislature permit the incorporation of companies 
for the formation and construction of highways, plank and gravel 
roads, harbours, bridges, piers and wharves, slides and dams, by. 
any number of persons not less than five, on subscribing for such 
an amount of stock in such companies as may be prescribed. 
Freeholders, on opposing the construction of a road, may have 
the question referred to the decision of the Municipal Council. 
These Acts are beneficial in their operation, and the inhabitants 
of Upper Canada are freely taking advantage of them, and opening 
up communications in all directions. The number of plank and 
macadamized roads thus constructed is now very large. 

x\cts of the Legislature also authorize the formation of compa- 
nies for mining, manufacturing and mechanical purposes, defining 
and restricting their rights, limiting under certain provisions the 
liability of stockholders, and affording protection to the public. A 
very useful measure is the Act which authorizes the formation of 
partnerships, with limited liability, composed of general and spe- 
cial partners, the one contributing money and services, and risking 
all their substance, the other risking only a fixed sum, and pre- 
cluded from active part in the concern, or ostensible connection 
with it. This Act affords due facilities for the legitimate exten- 
sion of business, and the safe employment of capital, while it effi- 
ciently protects the public by its carefully digested provisions. 
In a similar manner, Mechanics' Institutes and Library Associa- 
tions can be formed into quasi-corporations, and most of them 
are encouraged by the grant of £50 per annum each from the 
public exchequer. 

The formation of Town and Township Libraries, to which the 
public may have access, is also provided for. 



CANADA. 75 

The security of titles is provided for in both Upper and Lower 
Canada, by carefully framed systems of registration, enforced by 
privileges accorded in certain cases to priority of registration. 
The public security is provided for by police regulations, by the 
maintenance of Gaols and of the Provincial Penitentiary, the 
latter being a large and commodious structure, in which the convicts 
are kept at hard labour, at various trades, which they there may 
acquire. 

CHARITABLE AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS. 

Amongst Institutions having in view the amelioration of the 
social condition of the people, in various phases, may be men- 
tioned the Toronto General Hospital, the Montreal General Hos- 
pital, the Kingston General Hospital, the Hotel-Dieu Hospital at 
Montreal, the Marine Hospital at Quebec, for the reception of 
sailors and immigrants, the Hotel-Dieu of Quebec, the Provincial 
Lunatic Asylum at Toronto, of which the building is designed 
to accommodate 250 patients, and the Beauport Lunatic Asylum 
near Quebec. For both Upper and Lower Canada General 
Agricultural Associations are established, and hold annual Agri- 
cultural and Industrial Fairs or Exhibitions. In the counties also 
local societies are established, and the Bureau of Agriculture, 
a department of Government, is the head of the whole system. 
Observatories are maintained at Toronto for the purpose of mak- 
ing and chronicling meteorological, observations, and at Quebec 
for marine purposes. 

IV. THE POSTAL SYSTEM. 

The postal system is in effective operation, and the number 
of Post Offices and the extent of Mail service has been largely 
exteneled since the department was transferred to the sole control 
of the Province, in 1851. Previous to that time, varying and 
arbitrary rates of postage were in force, but after its transference 
a uniform rate of 3d. per ounce was introduced with excellent effect, 
the previous average rate having been 9d. per ounce. Yet with this 
great reduction, such was the expansion of business, and the ex- 
tension of correspondence, that there was but a deficit of £5000 
in the first year's operations as compared with the previous year ; 
and it is now confidently expected that the rate may yet be re- 
duced to Id. per ounce, with safety and benefit. 



76 CANADA. 

In April, 1851, there were 601 Post Offices, and the number of 
miles of established post rout was 7595, over which the annual 
transportation of the mails was 2,847,000 miles, and the gross rev- 
enue £93,802. Under the new system the gross receipts of thefiscal 
year ending April, 1852, with the immense reduction of postage, 
reached the gratifying sum of £71,788 18s. 5d. currency, while 
the gross receipts for postage for 1853 were estimated to be 
£81,000 currency. In the week ending 3rd of April, 1852, 
there passed through the Post Office 86,051 letters and 101,000 
newspapers. In the previous year, in a similar week, the num- 
bers were, letters 41,000, papers 90,000. * During the first 
year of provincial control, 243 new Post Offices were opened and 
443,360 miles of mail transportation added. By arrangement 
with the United States, letters go from Canada to any part of the 
Union, and vice versa, for 6d. currency, except to California and 
Oregon, when the rate, the distance being over 3000 miles, is 
9d. currency. Each country retains the postage it collects. A 
Canadian Mail for transport by the line of Canadian Ocean 
Steamers has been organized, the postal rate being 6d. sterling. 
The rate per the Cunard Steamers is lOd. currency. Postage 
stamps are issued of various denominations. A letter registration 
system has long been in operation, and it is still maintained and 
extended, but to it has been added the money order system, 
found so effective in Britain. The total expenditure of the depart- 
ment in 1852 for mail service was £41,315 14s. 8d. currency. 
The last two years have witnessed a continuous extension of the 
postal system, the correspondence steadily increasing ; but the year 
1852 has in the foregoing remarks been selected for the purpose 
of exhibiting the immediate and spontaneous effects of cheap pos- 
tage, upon its introduction, under the auspices of the first Canadian 
Postmaster Geneneral, the Hon. James Morris. 

V. THE LEGAL AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM. 
UPPER CANADA. 

The legal and judicial systems of the two Canadas are dissimi- 
lar. In Upper Canada the Court of lowest jurisdiction is the 
Division Court, having jurisdiction to £25, and presided over by the 

* Since this Essay was written, all Provincial newspapers have been 
exempted from Postage within the Province. 



CANADA. 77 

County Judge, his decision being final, and the Sessions of the 
Court being held in the various divisions of the county or counties 
which are set apart by the Judge to meet local convenience. The 
County Court comes next, with a jurisdiction up to £100, and 
presided over by a County Judge, who must be a Barrister of five 
years standing, and is appointed by the Crown. Their salaries 
range from £300 to £500 per annum. Next are the Courts of 
Queen's Bench and Common Pleas, sitting in term, at Toronto, 
and holding semi-annual Courts of Assize and Nisi Prius, as in 
England, throughout the various Circuits of the Province. The 
Judges of these Courts are men of high standing, the Chief 
Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench having recently, as a 
reward for long services as a Legislator and a Judge, been created 
a Baronet. 

The Court of Chancery is presided over by a Chancellor and 
two Vice-Chancellors ; and its business being transacted in ac- 
cordance with certain summary forms, it is more expeditious than 
its parent in Britain. 

The Court of Appeals, composed of the Judges of the Courts 
of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas and Chancery, is the Court of 
last resort, save the Privy Council in cases over £500. There 
also is the Court of Quarter Sessions. And an Exceptional Court 
is the Recorder's Court in cities. There are also the Court of 
Probate, Surrogate Courts, Heir and Devisee Courts, and Insol- 
vent Debtors' Court. 

LOWER CANADA. 

The lowest Courts are Commissioners Courts, for the trial of 
small causes involving £6 5s. and under, presided over by Com- 
missioners named by the Executive. Next, the Circuit Court, 
presided over by Judges, and having jurisdiction to £50, — an 
appeal lying, in cases over £15, to the Superior Court. Circuits are 
established in the cities and rural parts of the country. Then 
comes the Superior Court for Lower Canada, with unlimited juris- 
diction, sitting in seven Superior Districts. The Quarter Sessions 
may also be mentioned here. The last Court is the Court of 
Queen's Bench, having an appellate and criminal jurisdiction ; 
to it lies an appeal from the decisions of the Superior Court, and 
by its Judges the Criminal Law is administered. 



78 CANADA. 

An appeal lies from it, in civil matters involving over £500, 
to the Privy Council of Britain. In all probability, the system 
of justice will be more decentralized in Lower Canada than it has 
hitherto been, the policy having formerly been to centre the admin- 
istration of justice in the large cities. The Legislature, however, 
at present, seem disposed to generalize the administration of jus- 
tice, and no doubt the result will be to the popular advantage. 

VI. BANKING SYSTEM. % 

Certain Banks were at an early period chartered, with powers 
denned by Parliament, and with an amount of capital regulated 
by their charters of incorporation. These Banks have extended 
their operations with the growth of the country. Others have 
since been chartered, and the business of banking has been so 
prudently managed that there never yet has been a stoppage of 
a Canadian Bank. In 1850 another system was introduced, the 
free banking system, the creation of banking capital, and the 
issuing of a circulating medium, secured by the deposit of Pro- 
vincial securities with the Receiver General of the Province. 

CHARTERED BANKS. 

The capital of the Banks not being sufficiently large to accom- 
modate the wants of this growing country, the Legislature has 
just sanctioned an increase of capital, which doubtless will prove 
beneficial. The stockholders in these institutions are liable to the 
debts of the Bank in double the amount of their shares. There 
are in Canada eight of these Banks, viz : — 

1st. The Bank of Montreal, incorporated, having agencies 
throughout Western and Eastern Canada. The capital is 
£1,000,000 currency, with power, conferred by a recent statute, 
to increase the capital by a further sum of £500,000 currency. 
This Bank declares a dividend of 7 per cent, per annum, and has 
a Rest or Reserve Fund of £180,000. The increase of capital is, 
however, subject to the condition that the Bank shall keep 
invested in Debentures of the Province or of the Consolidated 
Municipal Loan Fund, one-tenth part of its capital. 

2nd. The Bank of Upper Canada, incorporated in 1821. This 
Bank has also agencies throughout Canada. It is the Bank of 
Provincial deposit. It also preserves a Reserve Fund set apart 
from profits. Its present capital is £500,000, with power to 



CANADA. 79 

increase it to £1,000,000. subject to the like condition with the 
Bank of Montreal as to investment. This power has been taken 
advantage of, and the Stock is generally being subscribed for. 
This Bank has declared a dividend of 1 per cent, per annum, but 
is expected for the future to pay 8 per cent., and every stockholder 
possessing three shares has just received a bonus of one share in 
paid up stock. 

3rd. The Commercial Bank of the Midland District, also a large 
incorporated institution, with agencies or Branch Banks throughout 
the towns of the Province, was incorporated in 1832. Its capital 
was, up to the present year, £500,000. It has been empowered, 
by the Legislature to increase its Stock to £1,000,000 currency. 
Books have been opened, and as the former shareholders were 
authorized to subscribe at par, and the payment was distributed by 
instalments, it is understood that it is now being taken up chiefly 
in the Province. This institution is also flourishing, paying a 
dividend of 7 per cent, per annum, and having a rest or fund of 
£100,000 to meet casualties. The Directors have announced 
that they will be enabled to pay 8 per cent, during the present 
year. 

4th. The Gore Bank, Hamilton, incorporated, capital £80,000 
currency. This Bank has several agencies, and though not so 
extensive an institution as the others already named is yet con- 
ducted satisfactorily, and divides 6 per cent, per annum. 

5th. The City Bank, Montreal, incorporated, capital £390,000 
currency, with power to increase the same within five years 
by £60,000 or to £450,000 currency. This Bank pays a divi- 
dend of 6 per cent, per annum. It has just declared a bonus 
from reserve profits of £l 5s. per share of £18 15s. currency. 

6th. La Banque du Peuple, incorporated, carries on its opera- 
tions at Montreal, capital £200,000. It is chiefly under the 
management of the French Canadian portion of the community. 
The principle on which it is established is different from that of 
the other institutions. 

^th. The Quebec Bank, the head office being at Quebec, was 
originally incorporated under a royal charter, with a capital of 
£75,000, subsequently increased by an Act of the Lower Canada 
Parliament, and again increased by an Act of the session of 1854, 
making a total capital of £250,000. The latter increase being 
under the same restriction as the other augmentations of capital. 



80 CANADA. 

All the foregoing Banks issue Bank notes of denominations 
varying from 5s. to £25. 

8th. Bank of British North America. The head office of this 
Bank is in London, England. It carries on its operations in 
Canada and the other British North American Colonies. Its 
capital is £1,000,000 sterling. It divides 6 per cent, per annum. 
This Bank was restricted to the issue of £l notes, but in 1850 
the chartered Banks were authorized to deposit Provincial secu- 
rities with the Receiver General, and obtain registered notes from 
the Inspector General, to the amount so deposited; and of this 
authorization the British Bank availed itself, and has issued such 
notes of smaller denominations. Its Stock is held chiefly in 
England. 

BANKS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF THE BANKING ACT. 

This Act, passed in 1 850, was designed to provide a uniform sys- 
tem in the incorporation and government of future Banks, and the 
regulation of Banking, but has not. been generally taken advan- 
tage of. 

Banks may be formed by any individual or co-partnership on 
entering into an agreement for that purpose, and registering the 
same, whereupon the parties thereto become a body corporate. 
The shareholders are liable in double the amount of their shares. 
No individual or Banking Association can issue Bank notes until 
the sum of £25,000 currency be deposited with the Receiver 
General in Provincial or Loan Fund securities. On such deposit 
the Inspector General is authorised to cause notes to be struck 
to a like amount, to be issued by the Bank, and countersigned 
by him. The public are carefully protected, and the whole 
management and conduct of these Banks are regulated by the Act. 
If a note be not paid, the Inspector General has power to close 
the Bank, and cause a Receiver to be appointed. 

General statements of the operations of such banks are requir- 
ed to be submitted to the Executive and Legislature. 

Three Banks have been already organised under this system, 
namely : the Molson's Bank at Montreal, and the Niagara District 
Bank at St. Catherines, and the Zimmerman Bank, which have 
been for nearly two years carrying on the business of Banking. As 
already stated, the Legislature, while avoiding interference with 
chartered rights, has yet, in granting to the privately chartered 



CANADA. 81 

Banks increased privileges, to a certain extent brought them under 
the operation of the general system. 

As a whole, the Banks of Canada have been judiciously 
managed : the stocks yield high average returns, and afford a 
most safe and favorable investment to the capitalist. 

Lastly I notice 

THE PRESS OP CANADA, 

"Which, in efficiency, general information, and character, is quite 
equal and in fact in many cases superior to the Provincial press 
of Britain, while its benefits are much more generally diffused. 
The wide ramifications of the press, and the extensive circulation 
of news by the medium of the newspaper, conduce materially to 
the spread of general information. In every ordinarily sized town 
of Upper Canada, and in all the cities of Lower Canada, the press 
is represented and is liberally sustained. The city sheets especially 
contain a large amount of reading and editorial matter, reports of 
debates in Parliament, commercial and general information, and are 
conducted with ability and energy, exercising an important in- 
fluence, and making their weight, as the " Fourth Estate," felt by 
the community. 

The growth of the press has been steady and rapid. The fol- 
lowing history of the early struggles of the Canadian press is 
interesting. It is extracted from a lecture delivered at Quebec 
in 1844, by the late Hon. A. W. Cochran : 

" The first newspaper established in Canada was the Quebec 
Gazette, still existing. The founder of it, Mr. Brown, brought his 
press from Philadelphia in 1763. By his heirs it was sold to Mr. 
S. Neilson, who left, the establishment, by his will, to his brother, the 
late Hon. John jSTeilson, long the experienced and able editor of the 
paper. There were in 1763 not more than twenty newspapers 
published in the breadth and length of the then American Colonies, 
and the Quebec Gazette is the oldest in the British North American 
Provinces. For nearly thirty years it remained without a com- 
petitor, but about 1788 it was followed by a rival, the Quebec 
Gazette, printed by one Stretchly, and subsequently by the Quebec 
Herald : both of these papers had but a brief existence. About 
1778 the old Montreal Gazette was established by one Mesplet, 
and was published in French ; but being soon discontinued, was 
assumed about 1794 by Louis Eoy, from the Quebec Gazette- 



32 CANADA. 

office, and after his death two newspapers under that name were 
published at the same time by one Edwards and by a 
Mr. Brown, who came also from the Quebec office ; and the 
paper conducted by him being transferred to others, still sub- 
sists under the same title. About 1794 a newspaper was pub- 
lished at Quebec in French and English, under the title of the 
Times or Le Temps, but enjoyed only a limited circulation and 
short existence ; and probably no numbers of it are now extant, 
except a few in the library of the Literary and Historical Society* 
The Quebec Mercury commenced its career in 1804, and the 
Canadien followed it in 1806, but was stopped by the seizure of 
the press by Government in 1810. Thirty years ago the only 
newspapers in the two Canadas were the Quebec Gazette and 
Mercury, the Montreal Gazette and Herald, the Canadian Cou- 
rant at Montreal (established about 1808,) and the Upper 
Canada Gazette, commenced at York about 1800. At the present 
moment (1844) four English and five French newspapers (some 
of the latter of recent origin and small circulation) are published 
and chiefly supported in Quebec. In Montreal there are five 
English and three French newspapers, and one English at Sher- 
brooke, while in Upper Canada, Toronto sends forth seven, King- 
ston five, and upwards of thirty others are published in different 
thriving towns and settlements, from Cornwall on the St. Lawrence 
and By town on the Ottawa to Sandwich. Of these, all are in the 
English language, excepting one in Gaelkrand one in German. 
Nor are these papers in either Province confined to political 
topics : most of them contain useful selections and general infor- 
mation in various branches of literature and science ; and it is 
pleasing to observe that as far as is known all of them sustain a 
tone favorable to public morality." 

From another source I learn that the newspapers published in 
Lower Canada in the year 1836 were nineteen. " Of these, five 
were French and fourteen English. The population of Lower 
Canada was then 571,930, being 30,000 inhabitants to one 
newspaper. 

The papers published in Upper Canada in 1836 were thirty-one. 
The population of Upper Canada at that time was 336,469, or one 
newspaper for ever 10,000 inhabitants. 

The number of French and English papers published in Canada 
East in 1854 was forty -three. Population of Canada East in 
1851 was 890,261, being one paper to 20,000. 



CANADA. 83 

The papers published in Canada West in 1854 were 114, and 
the population of Canada West in 1851 was 942,004, being one 
paper to 8000 inhabitants. 

The French papers published in Canada East in 1854 were 
eleven. French population of Canada East in 1851 was 669,522, 
being one newspaper to 60,000. 

Population of Canada East, other than French Canadians, in 
1851, was 220,740. English newspapers in 1854, thirty-two, being 
one newspaper for nearly 7000 inhabitants. 

The total of papers published in both sections of the Province 
in 1854 was 157. Population of both sections in 1851 was 
1,842,205, being one newspaper to 11,099 inhabitants. 

In 1S36 the proportion in Canada East, that the newspapers 
bore to the inhabitants, was one to 30,000 ; now it is one to 
20,000. 

In 1836 the proportion in Canada West, that the newspapers 
bore to the population, was one to 10,000 : in 1854 it is one to 
to 8351. 

In 1836 the proportion of the French papers in Canada East to 
the French population was one to 86,000 : in 1854 it is as one 
to 60,000. 

In 1836 the proportion of English papers to the English popu- 
lation was one to 10,213 : in 1854 it is as one to 7000." 

This disparity between the two Provinces is gradually diminish- 
ing, and it is hoped will soon altogether pass away, as the result 
of the general diffusion of education throughout the Lower Pro- 
vince. 



CHAPTER VII. 
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 



The public Educational Institutions of Canada West afford to 
the Canadian community every facility for acquiring the benefit 
of a sound ordinary education, or of a more enlarged classical and 
scientific training;. 

There are, firstly, 

THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, 

Formerly King's College, maintained and supported by a reve- 
nue derived from a large public grant of lands, originally 223,538 



84: CANADA. 

acres, and possessing handsome grounds, an appropriate building, 
and a full staff of Professors, some of them of eminence. 

To this is affiliated the Upper Canada College, a feeder to the 
University, but which is more properly an Academy. These In- 
stitutions afford the opportunity of obtaining a liberal education 
to the youth of Western Canada, who are desirous of entering the 
learned professions. The University comprises Faculties of Arts, 
Medicine and Law. There are several Colleges supported by 
private resources, of which we will treat elsewhere. 

There are, secondly, 

THE NORMAL AND MODEL SCHOOLS. 

The Provincial Normal and Model Schools were originated with 
the view of elevating the whole system of public instruction, by 
creating facilities for teaching the art of instruction as an art, and . 
exhibiting the system in actual and efficient operation. From the 
dispersion of qualified and trained teachers throughout the country 
great good will flow. 

The buildings of the Normal School are an ornament to the 
City of Toronto, where they are situated. The grounds comprise 
seven and a-half acres. The cost of the land and buildings was 
£25,000. Of the grounds two acres are devoted to a botanical 
garden, three to agricultural experiments, and the remainder to 
the buildings, and a gymnasium, it being the design that the lec- 
tures on vegetable physiology and agricultural chemistry may be 
practically illustrated. 

Semi-annual sessions of the Normal School are held, commenc- 
ing on the fifteenth day of May and November in each year, and 
lasting five months. Male students are required to be eighteen 
years of age, and females sixteen. They are required to produce 
certificates of good moral character, and to sign a declaration of 
the intention to devote themselves to the profession of school 
teaching. Candidates are admitted free of tuition charges. The 
course of instruction extends over two sessions, and teachers in 
training during that session, and those who obtain a first class 
certificate receive five shillings weekly. They are required to 
attend once a week religious instruction, communicated by 
clergymen of the religious persuasions to which they respectively 
belong. The number in attendance is 120. The Model Schools 
are male and female. The admission fee to them is very low. 



CANADA. 85 

The number of pupils is 400. The reciprocal benefits these kin- 
dred institutions confer on each other are very great, and they are 
fitting appendages of the grand system of public instruction now 
being so faithfully established and worked out in Canada West. 
Certificates of qualification of three grades are awarded by the 
Chief Superintendent to teachers who have emanated from Normal 
Schools, and their value is well attested by the preference evinced 
for the holders of first class certificates, by the Trustees of school 
sections. 

There are, thirdly, 

THE GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. 

The Grammar Schools — sixty-four in number— were formerly 
called the District Schools, and were established some twenty years 
ago by the then Legislature of Upper Canada, with a prudent fore- 
thought and an anxious desire to erect in every district or aggrega- 
tion of counties an institution in which the higher branches of 
education should be brought home to the doors of all. "Each 
Grammar School is intended to fulfil the double office of a high 
English school and an elementary, classical and mathematical 
school, — a school into which pupils will be admitted from the higher 
classes of the common schools, and receive such an education as will 
fit them for mercantile and manufacturing pursuits and the higher 
employments of mechanical and agricultural industry, as well as 
make them intelligent and useful citizens ; — a school also forming a 
connecting link between the common school and University College, 
in which youth maybe thoroughly trained in the elementary classics, 
mathematics and physical sciences, for admission to the University, 
and entrance upon professional studies." 

In addition to fees the teachers receive an annual grant of 
£100 each. They are now required to be graduates of some Uni- 
versity. Authority has been latterly given for the amalgamation 
of the Grammar Schools and Common Schools into one Academy, 
and in a few of the towns the fusion has taken place, and hand- 
some structures have been erected for the accommodation of the 
pupils, and staff of teachers. The free school system is an innova- 
tion which is extending with considerable rapidity, its principal 
being the non-exaction of fees, and the supporting of the schools 
by a general tax. Its imposition is dependent on the will of the 
people of the section within which the school is situated. If the 



86 CANADA. 

education of the people be regarded as a public duty, and one in 
which all sections and individuals of the community are alike in- 
terested, then the free school system will be seen to be a just and 
commendable one. The Legislature of the country is fully alive 
to the importance of awarding a liberal support to the educational 
institutions of the country, and a million acres of land have, by 
Act of Parliament, been set apart for the support of the schools, 
while £50,000 are annually given by the Government, and divided 
equally between the two Provinces, for the support of " the Com- 
mon Schools," of which, as one of the most important of our in- 
stitutions, the great nurseiy of the people, we come now to speak. 

COMMON SCHOOLS. 

The school system of Canada "West is believed to be very 
perfect in its character, having been originated and elaborated 
by the assiduous exertions and attention of the Superintendent, 
the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D. D. The system is a combination 
of the excellencies of various systems : — 1st, The machinery 
of the system is adopted from that of the State of New York. 
2nd, The principle of the support of the schools is derived 
from that of Massachusetts, "supporting them all according to 
property, and opening them to all without distinction ; but that the 
application of this principal should be at the discretion and by 
the action, from year to year, of the inhabitants in each school 
municipality." 3rd, The series of elementary text books in use 
are adopted from the Irish system, viz : those revised and published 
uuder the sanction of the National Board of Education in Ireland. 
4th, The system of Normal School training of teachers is adopted 
from that of Germany, which in the language of the Superinten- 
dent, "makes school teaching a profession, which at every stage 
and in every branch of knowledge teaches things and not merely 
words." 

The system of public instruction is engrafted upon the Municipal 
Institutions of the country, (explained under the head of Social 
Institutions.) The Municipal Council of each township, dividing 
such township into school sections of a suitable extent for one 
school in each, or for both male and female schools. The affairs 
of each school section are managed by three Trustees, who hold 
office for three years, and one of whom is elected annually by the 
freeholders and householders of such section. The Trustees have 



CANADA. 87 

ample powers. They determine, says the Superintendent of 
Education, in the following view of the system, extracted from the 
Official Report for the year 1853, " whatever sum or sums are 
necessary for the furnishing, &c, of their school, and the salaries 
of the teachers, but account for its expenditure annually to their 
constituents, and report fully to the local Superintendent, by filling 
up blank forms of Annual Reports, which are furnished to then! 
"by the Chief Superintendent of Schools from year to year. The 
Township Council imposes assessments for the erection of school 
houses, or for any other school purposes, desired by the in- 
habitants of school sections through their Trustees. The inhabi- 
tants of each school section decide as to the manner in which 
they will support their school, according to the estimates and en- 
gagementes made by the Trustees, whether by voluntary subscrip- 
tion, or by a monthly rate bill of not more than one shilling and 
three pence per child on parents sending to the schools, or by 
rates on the property of all according to its assessed value, and 
opening the school to the children of all without exception. The 
latter mode is likely to supersede both the others, but its existence 
and operation in conection with each school depend upon the 
annual decision of the inhabitants of each school section, at a 
public meeting called for that purpose. 

The duties of teachers are prescribed by law, and their rights 
are effectually prptected. No teacher is entitled to any part of 
the school fund, who does not conduct his school according to 
law, and who has not a legal certificate of qualification from a 
county board of public instruction, nor is any school section en- 
titled to receive any aid from the school fund, in which a school 
is not kept open six months during each year, by a teacher thus 
recognized as to both moral character and attainments. The law 
also requires a public quarterly examination to be held in each 
school. 

The inspection of the school is made by local Superintendents, 
who are appointed by the County Councils, and who may be ap- 
pointed for each county, or one for one or more townships, at the 
pleasure of each County Council. Each local Superintendent is 
entitled to at least one pound (four dollars) per annum for each 
school under his charge. He is required to visit each school, at 
least twice a year, and to deliver a public lecture on education in 
each school section once a year, besides apportioning the school 



8'8 CANADA. 

moneys to the several school sections within his jurisdiction, 
giving cheques on the order of Trustees to qualified teachers, 
upon the county treasurer or sub-treasurer, aiding in the examina- 
tion of teachers, deciding various questions of dispute and reference, 
corresponding on school matters, and reporting annually to the 
Chief Superintendent according to the forms prepared and 
furnished by him. 

Besides the local Superintendents, all Clergymen recognized by 
law Judges, Members of the Legislature, Magistrates, Members of 
County Councils, and Aldermen, are school visitors, to visit all the 
schools as far as practicable, within their respective charges. 
Their visits are voluntary ; they are desired " especially to attend 
the quarterly examination of schools, and at the time of such 
visits to examine the progress of the pupils, and the date and 
manao-ement of the schools, and give such advice to teachers and 
pupils, and any others present, as they may think advisable in 
accordance with the regulations and instructions which shall be 
provided in regard to school visitors according to law." The 
law also authorizes the holding of general meetings of school 
visitors in any municipality, on the appointment of any two 
visitors " to devise such means as they may deem expedient for 
the efficient visitation of the schools, and to promote the establish- 
ment of libraries, and the diffusion of useful knowledge." 

There is a Board of Public Instruction in each county, consist- 
ing of local Superintendents, and the Trustees of the Grammar 
Schools in such county. These County Boards consist largely of 
the clergy of different religious persuasions, associated with some 
of the most intelligent laymen in each county, so that the coun- 
try has the best guarantee that its circumstances will admit for 
the moral character and intellectual qualifications of teachers. 
The teachers are examined and arranged in three classes, ac- 
cording to a programme of examination prepared and prescribed 
by the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada. 

The Municipal Council of each county is responsible for raising 
at least an equal sum for salaries of teachers in the several town- 
ships within its jurisdiction, with that which is annually appor- 
tioned to them out of the Parliamentary appropriation, by the 
Chief Superintendent of Schools. The County Councils also 
appoint the local Treasurers of the school fund, and the local 
Superintendents of schools, and provide for their salaries. Special 



CANADA. 89 

provision is also made for the security of the school fund against 
the diversion of any part of it, and for the prompt payment of it 
to teachers at the times specified by law. Both the County and 
Township Councils have authority to raise any sums they think 
proper for public school libraries, under regulations prescribed, 
according to law. A Parliamentary appropriation has been made 
for the establishment of school libraries, to be expended on the 
same conditions, with the appropriation for the support of schools. 

The law also provides a system adapted to the circumstances of 
cities, towns and incorporated villages. In each city and town 
there is one Board of Trustees, for the management of all the 
schools in such city and town, two Trustees elected for each ward, 
and holding office for two years, one retiring annually. In each 
incorporated village and town divided into wards there is a 
Board of six Trustees elected, two retiring from office and two 
elected each year. These Boards of Trustees, thus constituted, 
appoint the local Superintendent, and determine upon the num- 
ber and kinds of schools, the employment of teachers, and all the 
expenses necessary for the schools in each city, town or incorpo- 
rated village ; and the Municipal Council is required in each case 
to raise the sum or sums estimated by the board of Trustees, for 
all their school purposes, and in the manner that they shall desire. 
There is also the same provision for the establishment of libraries 
in each city, town and village, as exists in respect to their establish- 
ment in each township and county. 

At the head of the whole system we have a Council of Public 
Instruction and a Chief Superintendent of Schools, both appointed 
by the Crown. The Council has the entire management of the 
Provincial Normal and Model Schools, recommends the text books 
for the schools, and books for the school. libraries, and makes the 
reo'ulations for the organization, government and discipline of 
Common Schools, the examination and classification of teachers, 
and the establishment and care of school libraries throughout 
Upper Canada. 

The Chief Superintendent, who is, ex-officio, member of the 
Council of Public Instruction, and provides accommodation for its 
meetings, apportions the school fund to the several municipalities 
throughout Upper Canada, prepares the general school regula- 
tions, and submits them, as well as the text library books, to the 
consideration of the Council ; prepares the forms of reports and 

G 



90 CANADA. 

proceedings under the Act, and gives instructions for conducting 
them, as well as for holding teachers institutes ; decides questions 
of dispute submitted to him ; takes the general superintendence of 
the Normal Schools ; provides facilities for procuring text and 
library books; and provides and recommends plans of school 
houses; prepares annual reports; corresponds with local school 
authorities throughout Upper Canada, and employs all means in 
his power for the promotion of education and the diffusion of 
useful knowledge. He is responsible for his official conduct, and 
for all monies that pass through his department. 

Such is an epitome of the system of public elementary instruc- 
tion in Upper Canada. The foundation may be considered as 
fairly laid, and something has been done towards rearing the 
superstructure. There has been an annual increase in the statis- 
tical returns of each branch of the Common School system since, 
its establishment. The system is to a great extent voluntary. 
Each municipality exercises its discretion, as to whether it will or 
will not accept the Parliamentary appropriation upon the con- 
ditions specified, and each school section does the same in regard 
to the terms on which aid is offered in support of its school. The 
o-eneral regulations and oversight are such as merely to secure a 
fulfilment, in each localitity, of conditions which are required by 
the Leo-islature, the collective wisdom and voice of the country, 
and to maintain a standard of teaching that will prevent funds 
provided for the promotion of knowledge from being prostituted 
upon ignorance and vice. The working of the Common School 
system is a great social development, and fraught with results 
which can be more easily conceived than described." 

A year has elapsed since the penning of the foregoing extract 
by its writer, and the annual report of 1853 evinces the continued 
success and advantages of the system. 

The aggregate sum raised for all educational purposes in West- 
ern Canada was in 1853 the noble sum of £199,674 Is. 5d., being 
an increase on any preceding year of £23,598 Is. 5d. The ag-^ 
(vre^ate sum raised for the erection and repairs of school houses 
was £80,730 lis. lOd. The number of pupils in attendance was 
in the aggregate 194,736, the increase during the year being 
15,149: A recent feature of the system is the establishment of 
school libraries selected by the Superintendent, and the issue of 
school maps. When the report issued, 90,000 volumes of gene- 



CANADA. 91 

ral information had thus been circulated. Local efforts for raising 
funds are supplemented to the extent of 75 per cent. The number 
of schools was, in 1853, 3127, and of these 1052 were free. 2117 
lectures were delivered during the year, in schools, on subjects 
connected with the system. 

In closing this important chapter, the collegiate institutions 
which are independent of public aid are deserving of notice : 

The oldest of these is 

THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, SITUATED AT KINGSTON". 

This institution, holding a Royal Charter, was originated by 
members of the Church of Scotland, and endowed by private 
liberality. It comprises Faculties of Arts and Medicine, and a 
Divinity Hall, and also a school. It has a staff of four Professors. 
Recently, a purchase has been made of a large and commodious 
building for its accommodation. It is calculated from its situation 
to be of much benefit to Central Canada. Though under the 
management of a Board of Trustees named by the Scottish Church 
in Canada, there are no tests, and it is conducted on a liberal 
basis, affording a sound substantial education. 

TRINITY COLLEGE 

Is conducted at Toronto, under the auspices of the Episcopal 
Church, and also holds a Royal Charter. It was established when 
University College became a public institution. Handsome build- 
ings have been erected, and a large sum raised for its endowment. 
It embraces Faculties of Arts, Medicine, Law and Divinity, and is 
conducted with much vigour. 

VICTORIA COLLEGE 

Is an institution of the Wesleyan Methodist denomination, estab- 
lished at Cobourg on Lake Ontario. Large and commodious 
buildings have been erected, and it has been for some years in 
effective operation. With it has lately been affiliated the Toronto 
School of Medicine. 

THE COLLEGE OF REGIOPOLIS 

Is situated at Kingston, and is maintained and carried on under 
the superintendence of the Roman Catholic Bishop of that city. 

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS. 

A Medical Board for Canada West is organized by Act of Par- 
liament, and meets quarterly in Toronto for the examination of 
candidates. 



92 CANADA. 

The Toronto College of Medicine, already mentioned, holds a 
session of six months annually. The course embraces the various 
branches of medical education. Schools of medicine in connec- 
tion with the University of Toronto and with Trinity College, 
Toronto, and Queen's College, Kingston, are in operation, afford- 
ing opportunity for obtaining a sound medical education. 



On the whole, Canada has every reason to be proud of her 
Educational Institutions, and their bearing on her future is very 
important, inasmuch as, no doubt, they must tend to her advance- 
ment and progress in general enlightenment. Her system is a noble 
one, inferior to none pursued in older countries ; it is superior to 
that of many. 

LOWER CANADIAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. 

Regarding the Lower Canadian system as being in a transition 
state, I notice it briefly. It is not yet, from a variety of causes so 
far, as efficient as the Upper Canadian, but to which it may be 
advantageously assimilated. Teachers are licensed by Boards of 
Trustees, Protestant and Catholic. The great majority of the 
people in the rural parishes, with the exception of the Eastern 
Townships, are attached to the Catholic faith, hence separate 
schools are erected by the Protestants wherever their numbers 
enable them to support them. 

A Superintendent of Education is in charge of the whole system, 
aided by School Inspectors having certain districts under their 
charge, and reporting as to their efficiency to the Superintendent. 
Teachers are licensed to teach by Board of Examiners, respectively 
Protestant and Catholic. Such teachers, according to their quali- 
fications, are authorised to teach Common or Model Schools. 
The state of education in. Lower Canada is not so encouraging 
as in Upper Canada, but still progress is being made, and the two 
systems might be profitably assimilated. Opportunity of obtain- 
ing the higher branches of education is amply provided, but a 
class of schools of higher standard than the primary schools, and 
intermediate between them and the Colleges, is a desideratum. 
Academies are, however, beginning to spring up in various parts 
of the country, and a few years will doubtless witness a rapid 
advance in the diffusion of sound education throughout the masses 
of the people. To this end, the extension to Lower Canada of the 



CANADA. 93 

efficient municipal system of Upper Canada will materially con- 
tribute, as the one institution re-acts upon and is mutually helpful 
of the other. The character and features of the education commu- 
nicated varies with the character of the school, whether French or 
English. In some portions of the country the schools are exclu- 
sively English, or nearly so, as in the Eastern Townships ; but the 
great majority of the schools are French in Lower Canada. "Where 
the English families have settled in the midst of a French popula- 
tion, a dissentient English school is generally opened. In 1852 
there were in Lower Canada, according to the official Report of the 
Superintendent of Education, 22*77 schools in actual operation, of 
which 2006 were Elementary Schools, 78 Model Schools, and 71 
schools of a superior class for girls. There were 138 Independent 
Schools. There were in all 30 Collegiate and Academical Institu- 
tions, and 36 schools attached to convents. The total number of 
pupils in attendance on all these schools was, in 1852, 97,582. 
Lower Canada as well as Upper Canada receives from the Legisla- 
ture its share of the annual appropriation for school purposes of 
£50,000. 

The educational system of Lower Canada, suffering hitherto 
from many disadvantages and difficulties, referable to the mixed 
origin of the population, and other causes, still requires a large 
measure of improvement, and no doubt the serious attention of 
the Legislature, alive to the best interests of the country, will be 
given to the subject, and an improved system adopted, which may, 
it is hoped, place the benefits of a sound education within the 
reach of all. 

COLLEGIATE INSTITUTIONS. 

There are many of these in Lower Canada, all, with the excep- 
tion of McGill and Lennoxville Colleges, connected with the 
Roman Catholic Church. 

McGill College was founded by a late merchant of Montreal, 
the Hon. Mr. McGill, who endowed it with considerable landed 
property. It went into operation in 1842. It is constituted 
under a Royal Charter, and managed by governors. There are in 
connection with it Faculties of Arts, Law and Medicine. The 
school of medicine, commenced previously to 1842, has long main- 
tained a very high reputation for the thoroughness of the educa- 
tion communicated. In 1852 there were sixty-four medical 
students in attendance on the lectures. 



94 CANADA. 

The High School of Montreal has been connected with this 
institution : it is conducted on the plan of the Edinburgh High 
School. 

At Quebec there is also a High School of a similar nature. 

At Lennoxville there is the Lennoxville College, in connection 
with the Episcopal Church, where there are Faculties of Arts and 
Divinity. 

Besides these, which are connected with the Protestant commu- 
nity, there are twelve Colleges, situated in various parts of Lower 
Canada, in connection with the Roman Catholic Church, and in 
which a classical education is afforded, and is freely taken advan- 
tage of by those who design entering the learned professions. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



To obtain a correct view of the position of some of these it 
will be necessary to bear in mind that Canada was originally a 
colony of France. In Upper Canada the Common Law of Eng- 
land, and Statutory Law also, as enacted until the constitution of 
the Local Legislature, prevails ; but the Statutory Law has from 
time to time modified the existing laws, as circumstances demanded. 

In Lower Canada, on the contrary, a different system prevails. 
The law of France, as it was in force at the conquest, including 
the Custom of Paris and the Edicts of the French Kings, which 
were enregistered in the Conseil Superieur of Quebec, and those 
of the Intendants, &c, continue to have in civil matters the force 
and effect of law, except in so far as they have been or may 
be modified by the Statutes of Lower Canada and of United 
Canada, and that the English Criminal Law prevails in criminal 
matters. In 1*791 the Act commonly called "The Constitu- 
tional Act," was passed, providing, amongst other important 
enactments, that lands might be granted in free and common 
soccage, and providing generally for the government of the 
Province of Quebec, as Canada was then called. By this 
tenure the lands in the Eastern Townships are held. It resulted 
from the retention of the French Law in the then Province of 
Quebec, that as an incident of it the feudel system of Fiefs and 
Seigniories was retained and is still in force, though on the eve of 



CANADA. 95 

abolition. This feudal system, it may be remarked, is identical in 
many respects with that which once prevailed in England, and the 
traces of which are yet to be found in some of the almost absolete 
tenures of Britain. 

The country was divided into Seigniories, and granted on cer- 
tain conditions to Seigniors. The Seigniors were entitled to receive 
in virtue of their concessions, by law, certain dues from the censi- 
taires, the most onerous being the lods et ventes and, though to 
a limited extent, the cens ei rentes. They were entitled to other 
rights incident to the feudal tenure, one of the most lucrative 
being the droit de banalite, which compelled the censitaries to bring 
their grain to his banal mill. The lods et ventes also were found, 
as the resources of the country increased, to retard it simprove- 
ment, the Seigniors being entitled to a twelfth of the purchase 
money on every mutation of property by way of sale. The 
rentes were not so heavy a burden, but for some years a grow- 
ing disposition has been evinced to alter the features of the tenure, 
or to abolish it entirely, and the result has been, in the present 
Session of the Parliament, the adoption (after long and protracted 
debates, and continued efforts at remodeling the measure,} of an 
Act which will terminate the system, extinguishing the tenure 
and at the same time compensating the Seigniors for their lucrative 
sights, on an estimation to be made of them by Commissioners to 
be appointed by Government. The Province itself assumes the 
payment of a certain portion of the indemnity- It is matter of 
rejoicing that a measure so generally equitable in its provisions 
should have been adopted, and a change of tenure brought about 
without violent expropriation and infringment of the rights of 
individuals, as in less peaceful revolutions often happens. Beyond 
doubt the change of tenure will benefit Lower Canada, and induce 
the current of emigration to set more freely into it than it has 
hitherto done. 

By the 31st George III., chapter 31, the Constitutional Act was 
amended in certain very important respects, and the Province of 
Quebec was divided into two separate Provinces, called Upper 
and Lower Canada. The Act constituted in each Province a 
Legislative Council and Assembly, having power to make laws 
for the peace, welfare and good government thereof, not repug- 
nant to the Act. The Legislative Council in each Province was 
to consist of not fewer than fifteen Councillors for Lower Canada 



96 



CANADA. 



and seven for Upper Canada, summoned by a Patent under the 
Great Seal of the Province, and holding office for the term of life. 
In order to constitute the Assemblies, the Governors or Lieutenant 
Governors were authorized to divide each Province into counties, 
districts or circles, and towns, and townships. The Lower 
Canada Assembly was to consist of not less than fifty members 
and the Upper Canada of not less than fifteen. The freehold in 
the counties was constituted at forty shillings per a^num, and after 
constant changes and modifications is still retained. The Councils 
and Assemblies were designed to meet once in each year, and the 
duration of each Assembly was four years* 

Under this Act, the Legislatures of the Province remained while 
separate, save that in Lower Canada the constitution was tempo- 
rarily suspended, and a Special Council exercised the Legislative 
power. 

In 1840, however, the Provinces were re-united, and constituted 
into the Province of Canada, with one Legislature, composed, as 
before, of a Legislative Council nominated by the Crown, and an 
Assembly of eighty-four members elected by the people, forty-two 
from each Province. Under this Act the Government of the 
countiy has been conducted ; but the House of Assembly has been 
latterly increased to one hundred and thirty members, sixty-five 
from each Province, returned by counties, cities and towns. The 
Legislative Council is appointed by the Crown.. Before a statute 
becomes, law, the assent of the two Legislative bodies and of the 
Crown is. necessary. Money Bills originate in the People's House. 
The power of the Legislature is almost unchecked, regulating 
taxes, customs, private rights, and the general government of the 
Province by its Acts, the Queen rarely withholding, as she has 
power to do, her assent from a measure. Sessions are required to 
be held annually, and the duration of the Parliament is four years,, 
though it may be previously dissolved by the Governor General. 

The- Government of the Province is conducted by a Governor 
General appointed by the Crown, who presides at the delibera- 
tions of an Executive Council nominated by the Crown, but who 
must, according to the theory of Responsible Government, in prac- 
tical force in Canada, possess the confidence of the people, as 
evinced by a majority of the House of Assembly ; and who, con- 
sequently, may lose their places on a vote of want of confidence, 
The Executive Council is composed of the following officials, vk:: 



CANADA. 87 

a President of the Committees of the Council (who is also Chair- 
man of the Bureau of Agriculture, and of the Board of Regis- 
tration and Statistics ;) a Provincial Secretary, an. Inspector Gen- 
eral, a Commissioner of Crown Lands, a Receiver General, one 
Attorney and one Solicitor General, one of each for each section 
of the Province ; a Commissioner of the Board of Public Works,, 
and a Postmaster General. These incumbents preside over the 
public departments indicated by their titles, in addition to exer- 
cising the functions of Executive Councillors. On the acceptance- 
of office, the incumbent elect, unless a Legislative Councillor,, 
must present himself to the people for re-election. The Solicitors 
General are not necessarily Members of the Cabinet. 

Such is the system of governing by Legislative majorities and 
responsibility to the electors, which is in force in Canada. Prac- 
tically the Government of the Province is self-government, the 
British Government rarely interposing the weight of its authority, 
but, on the contrary, distinctly enunciating its desire to allow the 
Province the widest latitude in self-government, compatible with 
the Colonial relation. In fact, the Canadas enjoy the largest 
measure of political liberty possessed by any country or peoplei 
The public offices, and the seats in the Legislature, are practically 
open to all. The people, by their representatives in Parliament,, 
regulate all matters of Provincial interest, and by their municipal 
system they regulate their municipal matters,, while they possess. 
and exercise the power of rejecting at the polls those who have 
forfeited their confidence. The inhabitants of Canada are bound. 
to Britain by the ties of common interest, common origin, and 
filial attachment. Owing a grateful allegiance to their Sovereign, 
they are proud to share the heritage of Britain's ancestral glories, 
while they are not slow in evincing their sympathy with her strug- 
gles, as the munificent grant of £20,000 sterling, gracefully ap- 
propriated by the Legislature to the Patriotic Fund, and to the 
widows and orphans of the soldiers of her ally, France, proudly 
shews. The policy of Britain is a wise one. She is building up 
on the broad foundations of sound political liberty, freedom of 
thought and conscience, a colony which will one day, (though the- 
connection will never be rudely severed,) attain the position of a 
nation, and peopled by inhabitants knit to Britain by the strongest 
ties of blood, and identity of feeling, will strengthen her hands, 
and support her position by the reflex influence of sound-, national- 
and constitutional sentiment. 



$8 CANADA. 

The future of Canada is a brilliant one: a great problem Is 
being wrought out in her history ; and, on review of her immense 
resources, and on a glance at her hardy, self-reliant population, 
the mind is irresistably urged to the conclusion that her destiny 
is a grand one, and that, on this American continent, she may yet 
be destined to play no insignificant part among the role of peoples. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GENERAL STATISTICS. 



In this chapter it is designed to throw together such facts and 
•figures, illustrative of the progress of Canada, as have not neces- 
sarily been interspersed through other portions of this Essay, in 
treating of the various subjects it embraces. The result of this 
compendium will, no doubt, be the dispelling of an error which is 
thus alluded to, in the words of a Report of the Board of Regis- 
tration and Statistics of the Province of Canada : " It is believed 
that a very general feeling prevails, not only in the mother coun- 
try, but even in Canada, that her growth and prosperity are not 
commensurate with that of the United States ; and, without any 
inclination to conceal or deny the rapid progress of our neigh- 
bours, it may be well, by a few facts compiled from statistical 
returns, to prove how erroneous such an impression is, the growth 
of Upper Canada, taking it from the year 1800, having been 
nearly thrice that of the United States." 

population. 

The total population of Canada, according to the Census of 1 85 1, 
was 1,842,265. 

"According to the 'World's Progress,' a w T ork published in 
New York in 1851," says the Report before quoted, "the free 
population of the United States was, in 1800, 5,305,925 ; in 1850 
it was 20,250,000 ; (in 1810 it was 7,239,814 :) thus in 50 years 
its increase was not quite 400 per cent., whilst that of Upper Canada 
was upwards of 1100 per cent, for the forty years from 1811 to 
1851. 

The steady increase of the population of Western Canada is 
apparent from a comparison with that of other countries, as insti- 



CANADA. 99 

tuted in the same Report, of the statistics and of the facts contained 
in which free use is hereafter made. 

The United States Census of 1850, as diminished by allowance 
for the population of territorial accessions since the previous Cen- 
sus, was in 

1850 23,091,488 

1840 17,067,453 

Increase in 10 years 6,022,035, or 35*27 per cent. 

Great Britain, Census of 1851 21,121,967 

Do do 1841 18,658,372 

Increase in 10 years 2,463,595, or 13-20 per cent. 

Upper Canada, Census of 1851 .' 952,004 

Do do 1841 465,357 

Increase in 10 years 486,647, or 104*58 per cent. 

Lower Canada has not increased with the same rapidity, owing 
to Upper Canada having hitherto received the greater proportion 
of the emigration from Britain and Europe ; still her progress has 
been steady. 

In 1827 the total population of Canada East was 423,378. In 
1831 it was 511,920. In 1844 it was 690,782. In 1851 it was 
890,026, having been doubled in twenty-four years. And the 
increase in the 13 years between 1831 and 1844 was 13*94 per 
cent. 

Again, take a comparison between Canada West, or Upper 
Canada, and three States of the American Union, Ohio, Michigan, 
and Illinois : in 1S30, according to the United States Census, these 
States contained 1,126^851 ; in 1850 they contained 3,505,000, 
a little over 320 per cent, in twenty years ; while Upper Canada, 
in the like period of 20 years, increased over 375 per cent. In 
1830 the population of Canada West was 210,437. In 1849 it 
contained 791,000. 

The tide of emigration in the States is flowing westward to 
Iowa, Wisconsin, and the banks of the Missouri, while in Canada 
it is also tending to the western section of Upper Canada and 
peopling the fine arable lands there inviting cultivation. The 
Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce increased from 5600 in 
1841, to 37,850 in 1851, upwards of 571 per cent, in ten 
years. The Gore and Wellington Districts increased 1900 per 
cent, in thirty-three years, up to 1850. The Western District 



100 



CANADA. 



increased over 700 per cent., the London District 550 per cent., 
the County of Niagara 380 per cent., while in eight years the 
County of Oxford doubled its population. Some portions of the 
rural parts of Lower Canada are also rapidly advancing. The 
County of Megantic, which has attracted an Irish emigration, in 
seven years, from 1844 to 1851, increased from 6449 to 13,835, 
or at the rate of 115*40 per cent. The County of Quebec in seven 
years advanced from 12,800 in 1844 to 19,074 in 1851, or 50 per 
cent. The County of Ottawa in the same period has increased 
from 12,434 to 22,903, or 84-42 per cent. The County of Drum- 
mond, from 9354 to 16,562, or 77-28 per cent. And the County 
of Sherbrooke, in which the British American Land Company 
have large possessions, and which a railway traverses, from 13,485 
to 20,014, or 49-47 per cent. 

Doubtless for the future the emigration to Lower Canada will 
be larger, as the Seigniorial Tenure will no longer deter those 
desirous of settling. Before proceeding to notice the rise in 
population of some of the leading towns this will be an appro- 
priate place to introduce, as connected with the general increase 
of the population, the statistics of emigration to the Province for 
some years back. 

EMIGRATION. 

There arrived at Quebec the following number of emigrants in 
the years specified, viz : 



In the years 
Natives of England and Wales 


1847. 

28725 

50360 

3628 


1848. 
6034 


1849. 
89,80 


1850. 

17976 

2879 

701 

849 

32292 


1851. 

9677 

22381 

7042 

1106 

870 

41176 


1852. 

9276 
15983 
5477 
1184 
7256 

39076 


1853. 

9585 
L4417 
4745 
496 
7456 

36691! 


1854u 
18175 


Ireland 


16562 23126 

3086 4984 

842 968 

13951 436 


16175 


Scotland 


5446 


B. N. A. Colonies 


875 


The Continent 


7457 
90150 


11537 




27939 


38494 

I 


53183 



It will be noticed that the emigration attained its maximum in 
1847, the period of the Irish exodus, and during the past year it 
again reached its highest point since the year 1847. This is 
owing in part to accidental causes, a large influx of English and 
Scotch emigrants being doubtless attributable to the importation 
of skilled workmen for the great system of railways in progress, 
while the large arrival of continental emigrants is owing to a pre- 
ference for the Canadian route as the safest, cheapest and best 
route to the Western States. This emigration will no doubt 



CANADA. 101 

increase, and while some settle in the County of Waterloo and 
elsewhere in Western Canada, where German colonies are planted, 
the majority will wend their way through the Canadian waters to 
Iowa and the Western States. The management of this trade is 
of no slight importance to Canada, as in 1851 upwards of 300,000 
emigrants arrived in New York, and the current of this emigra- 
tion tends westward, the avenues open to it being either the Erie 
Canal with its tedious lockages, or the American railway chain 
with its many breaks and transfers, or on the other hand, and 
immeasurably superior, the noble navigation of the St. Lawrence, 
and the short Canadian Great Western Railway across the western 
peninsula of Canada. Of the emigration of the past year to Canada, 
1786 steerage and 429 cabin passengers arrived by the Canadian 
line of steamers, — the commencement of a great trade. It is believed 
that the three Canadian lines of steamers will divert to the shorter 
and more expeditious Canadian route a large portion of the 
emigration to America. Of the continental emigrants 11,060 
were natives of Germany, 5811 Norwegians, 910 Swedes, and 231 
natives of Holland. The excellency of the routes as regards salu- 
brity is demonstrated by the fact that though cholera was prevalent 
during the summer season of 1854, the deaths on the passage of 
the total emigration to Canada was but 0.92 per cent. 
In Quarantine, 0.08 do 

And the total on emigrants embarked.. 1.00 do 
The navigation of the Canadian waters being now free, an im- 
mense tide of emigration may be expected to pass through the St. 
Lawrence and the Canadian Lakes on its way to the great West. 

RISE OF TOWNS. 

Dundas in six years increased from 1700 to 3517. Brantford, 
during the year 1850-1851, rose from 3200 to 4000, or 25 per 
cent. Belleville, in the same period, increased from 3500 to 4569 ; 
and London from 5124 to 7035, while it has now attained a popula- 
tion of 10,000, and been established as a city. Gait increased in 
five years from 1000 to 2248 ; and Guelph in seven years, from 700 
to 1860. Woodstock has increased in 1850-51, from 1200 to 2112; 
and Ingersol in four years has increased from 500 to 1190. 

Kingston in 10 years increased from 6,292 to 11,585. 
Toronto in « « « « 14,249 to 30,775. 



102 



CANADA. 



This latter city, in 1793, was, it is stated, occupied by a single 
wigwam, and in 179*7 contained only 12 families. In 1794 the site 
was selected for a town. 

In 1801 the population of the city was 336 

" 1830 " " " " 2,860 

" 1845 " " " " 19,706 

" 1851 " " " " 30,775 

and is now much greater. The assessed value of the rateable 
property in Toronto was, in 1851, £3,116,400. 
Hamilton was laid out in 1813 : 

It contained in 1836 only 2,846 inhabitants. 

" 1846 " 6,832 

" " 1851 14,112 " 

All the foregoing towns are in Western Canada. 

Montreal, in Lower Canada, contained, in 1816, 16,000 inhab- 
itants; in 1851, 57,715, and it is believed now to contain 70,000" 
inhabitants. It is rising steadily and surely, as the following state- 
ments, compiled from the Annual Reports of the City Treasurer, 
shew: — In 1851 the market revenue was £6704 12s. 3d.; the 
duty on business for 1850, was £5849 4s. Od. ; the assessment and 
personal taxes for the fiscal year ending on the 31st January, 1851, 
were £14,447 19s. Id. For the year 1854, the following is the 
statement of the same features, exhibiting a steady advance : duty 
on business, £9311 10s. 6d. ; market revenue, £8137 6s. 7d. ; 
assessment and personal taxes, £20,232 10s. 0d., the rate of 
assessment being Is. 6d. in the pound on the rental. 

Quebec, in 1816, according to Talbot, contained 14,880 inhab- 
itants ; in 1851 it contained 42,052. 

Bytown, in Upper Canada, in 1830 contained 150 houses; it 
is now the City of Ottawa, with 10,000 inhabitants. Nor are 
these isolated instances : Paris, Woodstock, Gait, Guelph, Cobourg, 
Peterboro', Stratford, Port Hope, St. Catherines, Perth, Brockville, 
are among the many rising towns which are rapidly augmenting 
their population in Western Canada ; while in Lower Canada, 
Sherbrooke, St. Hyacinthe, and Three Rivers, may be mentioned 
as rising in importance, besides many minor villages. 

POPULATION OP WESTERN CANADA BY OBKHN. 

Canadians, not of French origin, . . . 526,093 United States 43,732 



England and Wales, 82,699 

Ireland 176,267 

Scotland, 75,811 

Canadian, French, 26,417 



From other countries, 20,995 

952,004 



CANADA. 10$ 



EELIQIOUS CENSUS. 



Church of England, 223,190 

" Rome, 167,(595 

Methodists, 207,656 

Presbyterians, 204,148 



Baptists, 43,35& 

Lutherans, 12,089 

Other Creeds, 91,873 



CHURCHES. 



Church of England, 226 

" Home, 135 

Presbyterian, 257 

Methodist, 471 

Quaker, 18 

Lutheran,.. 22 



Congregationalist, 84- 

Baptist, 116' 

Bible Christian, 46 

Other places of worship, 185- 

115& 



as per Census Report of 1851, being one place of worship for every 
612 inhabitants, affording accommodation for 470,000 persons.; 
and at an average cost of £300 each, amounting to £467,100, 
including only those in the Census Report, which is possibly 
incomplete. It is believed that the Census of religious beliefs 
throughout the Province is not to be depended on as correct, 
but may prove an approximation. 

POPULATION OE X0WEB. CANADA BY ORIGIN". 

Canadians of Trench origin, 669,528 

not of " 125,580 

England and Wales, 11,230 

Ireland, 51,499 

Scotland, 14,565 



United States, 12,482- 

Other countries, 5,377 

890,261- 



EJSLIGIOUS CREEDS. 

Church of Rome, 746,860 I Presbyterians, 33,535 

England, 45,402 Baptists... 4,493 

Methodists,.. 21,183 I Other creeds, 38,782 

CHURCHES. 



Soman Catholic, 340 

Church of England,.., Ill 

Presbyterian, 57 



Methodist, , go- 

Congregationalist, ' 20 

Jews' Synagogue, .['[[ i 



or one place of worship for every 1459 inhabitants, including onlv 
those churches returned on the Census lists. 

AREA, 

According to Bouchette, Canada contains an area of 346,863 
square miles. Lower Canada 205,683, and Upper Canada 141,000, 
M an extent about six times, (as Professor Lillie, in his valuable lec- 
tures on Canada, of the careful statistics in which the writer has 
made free use, justly remarks,) that of England and Wales," — surely 
ample room and verge enough for expansion, and for the accom- 
modation of the redundant population of Europe. 

Compared with the United States, the area bears to the area of 
that country the proportion of one-sixth. In population it is more 
than one-thirteenth ; in occupied acres, one-seventeenth ; in growth 
©f wheat, very nearly one-sixth of the whole Union. 



164 



CANADA* 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE. 

A comparison between the produce of Canada and the United 
States is exceedingly interesting, and the following has been pre- 
pared from the Report of the Board of Registration and Statistics : 



■Canada 

Ohio 

U. States and Territories. 



Population 



1,842,265 

1,980,427 

23,263,4S8 



Total Acres. 



155,188,425 
Not given. 



Occupied Acres, culti- 
vated <fe uncultivated. 



17.939,796 

17,999,493 

303,078,970 



Upper Canada.. 
Lower Canada.. 
All Canada. . . . 
Ohio 

United States.. 



No. of acres 
of wheat. 



180,385 

355,926 

1,136,311 

1,231,437 

Not given. 



No. of bushels 
of wheat. 



12 675,603 

3,480,343 

16.155,946 

14,487,351 

100,503,899 



No. of bushels 
per acre. 



J - u t>o 

QoO 

1412. 
12 
Not given. 



Assessed value 
ofoccup'd lands. 



£36,670,890 
29,208,158 
65,879,651 
89,689,661 

817,683,273 



Upper Canada. . . 
Lower Canada. . . 

All Canada 

Ohio 

United States. . . 



Value of occupied 
land per acre. 



£3 14 7 

3 12 

3 13 5 

4 19 8 
2 14 



Total value of wheat 
at 4s. per bushel. 



£2,535,124 

696,069 

3,231,190 

2,897,470 
20,100,780 



Total value of 
live stock. 



£6,133,354 

4,814,18-3 

10.947,537 

12,793,587 

144,223,120 



In Ohio the cities and towns are included, in Canada they are excluded. 

Bushels. 
The total export of wheat, in 1851, from Canada, was.. 933,756 

" of flour, 668,623 barrels, or 3,343,175 

Total home consumption, 5 bushels for each individual 

of population of 1,842,265 9,211,325 

Total seed at 1| bushels per acre 1,674,466 



Total number of bushels of wheat as per calculations . . 15,162,662 
And per Census returns, Upper Province, 12,802,272 

Lower Province, 3,400,000 

16,202,272 ' 

In the United States the growth of wheat has increased about 
48 per cent, in the last ten years, while in Upper Canada it in- 
creased 400 per cent. The increase of the growth of Indian corn 
in the United States, for the ten years between 1840 and 1850, 
was 56 per cent., whilst in Canada in the last nine years the in* 



CANADA. 105 

crease has been 163 per cent. The increase in the growth of oats 
in the United States in the same period was 17 per cent, while in 
Upper Canada it was 133 per cent., and in Lower Canada 41 per 
cent , or, in both together, 70 per cent. In peas the increase in 
Upper Canada, in nine years, has been 140 per cent. 

Contrasting Canada with Ohio, which presents in every respect 
the most favorable comparison, the result is gratifying. The occu- 
pied lands uncultivated are ten and a-half millions of acres, to 
eight millions in Ohio. The unoccupied lands in Canada are 137 
millions of acres, in Ohio seven and a-half millions. The ratio 
of the increase in population of Ohio in the last ten years was 33^, 
in Upper Canada it was 104^. The number of cultivated acres 
in Ohio is one-fourth greater per inhabitant than those of Canada, 
yet the bushels of wheat are one-twelfth less than in Canada. 

Canada possessed, in 1851, 46,939 more milch cows than Ohio. 
Ohio exceeds the average of the whole United States in the amount 
of butter per cow by 27 per cent., and Upper Canada exceeds that 
average by 9 per cent. 

The number of sheep in Canada is 1,600,000 

Horses 385,801 

Young cattle 435,305 

An increase in nine years of 48 per cent. 

Canada contrasted with the State of New York : 
In 1810 New York contained. . 959,049 inhabitants. 
tt 1840 " " .. 2,428,921 " 

" 1850 " " ... 3,200,000 " 

In 1850 its population was three and one-third times more 
than it was 40 years before, while Upper Canada in the same year 
was ten times greater in population than it was in 1811. 

Taking Ohio, Michigan and Illinois together : 
In 1830 they contained in all 1,126,851 inhabitants. 
In 1850 " " 3,505,000, or 3^ times that of 1830. 

Canada West contained : 

In 1830 210,437 inhabitants. 

In 1850 791,000, over 3| times that of 1830. 

The progress of Canada then is indeed satisfactory from every 
point of view. She is destined yet to accommodate a much more 
congregated population. Were the land even now occupied 
peopled as densely as England, it would accommodate a population 

H 



106 



CANADA. 



of 11,000,000, while on its broad surface there is room enough 
for twenty times its present population. 

REVENUE. 

The revenue of Canada, derived from Customs Duties, has 
been augmenting rapidly, as the annual statements indicate : 

Gross Revenue in 



1849 
£144,547 5 1 



1850 
£615,694 13 1 



1851 
£737,439 2 



1852 
£739,263 12 9 



1853 
£1,029,782 15 4 



A glance at the general balance sheet of the Province, as 
extracted from the public accounts for 1853, will further prove 
satisfactory. 

GENERAL REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. 

Revenue. 



On the 31st January, 1854, the balance at the credit of 
the Consolidated Fund was 


£ 

383,699 

1,029,782 

27,405 

93,770 

23.053 

123,002 

4,465 

15,006 

4,169 


S. 

14 

15 
14 

4 
19 

6 
16 
15 
11 


d. 

4* 
4 
5 
2 
4 
7 
8 
4 
11 


£ 
1,320,659 


s. 
8 


d. 














Tax on Bank circulation 




Revenue from public works 












Law -fee Fund 


9 






3 




Total currency 








1,704,350 


Of 










834,668 


Bi 











Expenditure. 



31st January, 1854. 

Interest on public debt 

Civil Government 

Administration of Justice 

Provincial Penitentiary 

Legislature 

Education., 

Agriculture 

Hospitals and Charities 

Provincial Geological Survey 

Militia 

Light Houses 

Emigration 

Pensions 

Indian Annuities 

Census 

Sinking Fund 

Miscellaneous 

Expenses of collection, including £26,138 7s. for repairs 
to public works 



£ 
227,383 
36,103 
89,134 

7,000 

66,237 

101,335 

13,811 

27,309 

1,486 

2,083 

17,377 

752 

11,643 

7,755 

2,826 
73,000] 
58,954| 



125,964|15 8 



To balance at credit of the Consolidated Fund. 



869,871 
834,668 



1,704,350 3 1* 



Bi 



CANADA. 107 

It will be noticed that £75,000 was, during the year, paid into 
the Sinking Fund, a fund providently constituted for defraying the 
public debt, as it may mature, the fund being invested in British 
securities. The sum so previously invested in reduced 3 per cent, 
annuities was £454,434 sterling. During the fiscal year, £220,095 
of sterling 5 per cent., and £264,573 12s. 6d» of 6 per cent, deben- 
tures were redeemed by the Province. 

THE SECURITIES OF CANADA. 

As Canada is now occupying a more prominent position than 
she has done hitherto, and will gradually assume a yet more im- 
portant place in the estimation of the people of Britain, as her capa- 
bilities become more widely appreciated, and her resources more 
fully developed, reliable information with regard to the nature and 
^character of the various securities of the Province, which are from 
time to time offered for sale, will prove useful. 

There are then, first, the debentures of the Province, payable 
out of its revenues, and to secure the extinction of which, a 
sinking fund has been providently created. As to the char- 
acter and stability of these securities there can be no question. 
Representing debts incurred chiefly for provincial improvements, 
and issued by a country possessed of so many elements of material 
prosperity as Canada, and one increasing so steadily in population, 
there can be no reasonable risk of their being duly provided for, and 
hence Canada six per cents are eagerly sought for as permanent 
investments, and command a high premium. Canada five per 
cents are also issued, but of course are not so readily saleable as 
those first named, but yet are a desirable investment in a country 
where the average value of money rules so low as in Britain. 

2nd. municipal loan fund bonds. 

Issued by the Province of Canada, in Upper and Lower Canada, 
respectively. These also present a satisfactory security. The 
character of these bonds is fully described elsewhere under the title 
" Municipal Loan Fund." It may be added that these securities 
receive additional value, from the fact that the limit assigned to 
the issue has been already reached. 

3rd. municipal debentures of upper canad'a. 

These debentures are issued by our various municipalities, the na- 
ture of which institutions is elsewhere fully explained. The deben- 
tures of the Canadian cities, counties and townships, are issuedomder 









108 CANADA. 

the restriction of salutary safeguards. The various municipalities 
have power under the restrictions and upon the security mentioned 
in the acts creating them, to borrow money for the execution of 
city, county or township works within their jurisdictions. They 
may take stock in road companies or in railways, subject to simi- 
lar provisions and restrictions. For the liquidation of such liabil- 
ities, they are authorized to issue debentures. The creation of such 
debt must be sanctioned by a by-law, which m-ust fix the date, at 
which the same shall mature, and that within twenty years. A spe- 
cial rate per annum must also be imposed upon all the rateable pro- 
perty within the jurisdiction, such as shall be sufficient to. defray 
the debt and interest within twenty years. The municipality cannot 
discontinue such rate, until the debt and interest are discharged. 
It is further expressly enacted, that until such debt is wholly paid, 
the by-law is in force,, and any by-law repealing it is absolutely 
null and void. The municipality is bound to report to the Exec- 
utive Government of the Province annually the state of its debt. 
Should the municipality neglect to provide for the debt or interest, 
the payment can be enforced, and on a writ of execution being 
addressed to the Sheriff, he has power to examine " the adjusted 
and settled assessment rolls" of such municipal corporation, and to 
strike a rate upon the same, for the collection of which he is author- 
ised to issue a precept to the collector to levy and enforce the same. 
Such then is the mode in which these securities are issued and the 
way in which their liquidation is provided for. 

PUBLIC DEBT. 

The direct liability of the Province of Canada is £5,&7l,315 
6s. 8d. currency, to which is to be added the collateral liability, 
as, for instance, the public guarantee lent, and to be lent, to rail- 
ways, £2,166,640. The total debt, including the direct debt, the 
collateral debt, and debts, as the Municipal Loan Fund, to which 
the Province is only by implication responsible, as being payable 
out of a Special Fund, is estimated, by a Committee of the House 
of Assembly, at £9,650,506 9s. 5d., the total interest on which 
is £544^135 4s. 4d. per annum. And this indebtedness, it is to be 
borne in mind, is chiefly incurred for public improvements and 
works of general utility, contributing directly to the advancement 
of the Province, and the increase of its productive capabilities. 
The sanction of the Legislature is required to any expenditure of 
the public monies. 



CHAPTER X. 
CLIMATE. 
This Treatise would be incomplete without some reference to 
this important topic, with regard to which there is much miscon- 
ception. In the words of a writer on the subject : " Notwithstand- 
ing the enjoyment of a soil eminently fertile, and of a climate 
distinguished by remarkable salubrity, notwithstanding a decided 
superiority for agricultural purposes over the State of New York, 
the northern part of Ohio and Illinois, the States of Michigan, 
Iowa, Wisconsin, the "far West," and the whole of New England ; 
m a word, over the wheat-growing States generally, yet the im- 
pression undoubtedly prevails among multitudes, who are desirous 
of emigrating from Great Britain and Ireland, that the climate of 
Western Canada is distinguished by the characteristics of intense 
and almost unendurable winter cold, together with a hot and 
fleeting summer, which scarcely affords the agriculturist time to 
secure his harvest. The European emigrant, who is still deterred 
from seeking a home in Western Canada, by traditionary details 
of the severity of the climate of the remote eastern part of the 
United Provinces, is ignorant of the fact that in preferring any 
part of the United States, to which allusion has been made, he is 
actually selecting for himself a climate of greater winter cold and 
summer heat, and not only more unhealthy, but also far more 
hazardous to the agriculturist than that which he obtains in the 
Canadian peninsula." 

CANADA WEST. 

From the peculiar position of the Province among the great 
lakes, whose influence in ameliorating the winters is very great, 
it presents adaptation to the purposes of agriculture which are 
not surpassed in any other portion of North America. 

" The most important points in which the climate of Western 
Canada differs from that of the United States, and of those portions 
of Canada itself which lie north of the forty-first parallel of lati- 
tude," says the same writer already quoted, and of whose labours 
in this chapter use is made in giving an idea of the climate of 
Western Canada " may be briefly enumerated as follow :" * 

1st. In mildness, as exhibted by comparatively high winter and 
low summer temperatures, and in the absence of great extremes of 
heat. 

* " A comparative view of the climate of Western Canada," by Henry 
"SToule Hinde, Esq., Toronto. 



110 CANADA. 

2nd. In adaptation to the growth of certain cereals and forage- 
crops. 

3rd. In the uniformity of the distribution of grain over the agri- 
cultural months. 

4th. In the humidity of the atmosphere, which although con- 
siderably less than that of a truly maritime climate, is greater 
than that of localities situated at a distance from the lakes. 

5th. In comparative immunity from spring frosts and summer 
droughts. 

6th. In a very favorable distribution of clear and cloudy days^ 
for the purposes of agriculture, and in the distribution of rain over 
many days. 

7th. In its salubrity* 

The points in which the climate of Western Canada differs 
favorably from that of Great Britain and Ireland are : 

1. In its high summer mean of temperature. 

2. In its comparative dryness. 

3. In the serenity of the sky. 

Yet in spite of these advantages, impressions to the contrary have 
been but too prevalent, and confounding Eastern with Western 
Canada, (the climate of the former being, though very salubrious, 
much more severe,) all Canada is often represented as a Siberia, 
and that too a representation of a country whose production of 
wheat is annually increasing at the average rate of two millions 
of bushels. 

Subjoined, is a table of the mean maximum and mean minimum 
temperatures, together with the range of the different months of 
the year, as observed at Toronto, in Her Majesty's Observatory, 
being the mean of 11 years, viz : from 1840 to 1850 both inclu- 
sive: 

Mean. Maximum. Minimum. Range. 

January 24° 67' 45° 33' 4 Q 41' 49° 74' 

February ... 24 14 46 35 4 37 50 72 

March 30 83 53 31 7 59 45 92 

April 42 17 71 44 17 96 53 48 

May 51 84 76 76 28 82 47 94 

June 61 42 76 44 35 72 40 72 

July 66 54 88 11 44 05 44 06 

August 65 76 83 93 45 02 38 95 

September 57 11 80 19 32 07 48 12 

October 44 50 66 10 22 17 44 30 

November 36 57 57 03 13 33 43 60 

December 27 18 45 25 3 52 46 2.T 

Annual mean 44° 39'. 



CANADA. Ill 

From these figures we glean, says Mr. Hincle, the following facts : 

1st. The hottest month in the year is July, the coldest Febru- 
ary. 

2nd. There are four months in the year during which the 
average temperature is less than the freezing point of water. 
These months are, January, February, March and December. 
These constitute the winter months. 

3rd. There are three months, April, October and November, 
during which, the temperature is above the freezing point of water 
and below the mean temperature of the year. 

4th. There are five months in the year, during which the mean 
temperature is above the annual mean. These are May, June 
July, August and September. These months, with October, con- 
stitute the agricultural or growing mon ths of Western Canada. 

MILDNESS OF THE CLIMATE OF THE CANADIAN PENINSULA. 

The following table, shewing the difference between the mean 
summer and mean winter temperatures of various localities, is 
worthy of attention, as illustrating the mildness of the climate of 
Western Canada, when compared with the excessive climates of 
the Western States : 

Difference betiueen the summer and winter means of temperature. 

Latitude. 

43° 39' Toronto, 39° 00' 

41 30 Muscatine, Iowa, 45 00 

41 28 Fort Armstrong, Illinois, 49 05 

43 03 Fort Crawford, Wisconsin, 50 89 

41 45 Council Blufis, Missouri 51 34 

44 53 Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 56 60 

AS CONTRASTED WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

In nearly every part of England and Ireland, the mean annual 
temperature varies from two to five degrees higher than at Toronto 
The mean summer teirmerature is four or five degrees lower than 
at the last mentioned place. Hence Indian corn will rarely ripen, 
or melons, squashes, or pumpkins grow to any size in the open air 
in the British Isles, though these vegetables attain remarkable 
dimensions in Western Canada. Peaches, plums, and grapes also 
ripen freely in the open air, and the first mentioned fruit, in the 
Niagara District, are grown in orchards. The mean summer tem- 
perature of 57° 2' appears to be the minimum requisite for the 
cultivation of wheat. The mean summer temperature at Toronto 



112 CANADA. 

is 64° 51', and if the mean of the whole Province were taken, it 
would probably be found to be 66°. The mean maximum sum- 
mer temperature at Toronto is 85° 26'. 

Table of the mean summer temperature at various localities in 
Europe compared with Toronto : 

Degrees. 
Toronto, mean summer heat, 64 . 51 



Berlin, (Europe,) " 

Cherbourg, M 

Penzance, " 

Greenwich, " 

Cheltenham, " 



" 63. 2 

" 61. 9 

« 61. 8 

60.88 

60.04 

Toronto, mean temperature of the hottest months, 66.54 
Paris, " " " " " 60.02 

Frankfort on the Main, " " " 66.00 

Berlin, " " " « " 64. 4 

London, " " « " « 64. 1 

Cherbourg, " « « " 63. 2 

LOWER CANADA. 

The climate of the Province, and of that portion of Upper 
Canada which lies to the north of the 44th parallel of latitude, is 
more severe than in the favored region of Canada above alluded 
to, lying south of that parallel. The prevailing winter wind in 
the Canadas is the north-west. In Peninsular Canada, as it may 
be styled, it sweeps over unfrozen lakes of vast extent and depth. 
In the other portions of Canada it traverses forest regions, and a 
frozen tract of country extending far towards the poles. Hence 
the production of greater winter cold and summer heat in the 
valleys of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, than south of the 44th 
parallel. 

Still, the climate of Lower Canada is eminently salubrious, and 
the thermometer is but a very imperfect guide to the enquirer ac- 
customed to its ranges in the damp, humid atmosphere of sea-bound 
countries. The atmosphere in winter is dry, clear and bracing, and 
consequently consumption is less prevalent than in Britain or even 
the United States. The depth of snow is usually from eighteen 
inches to two feet, and its coming is looked for with eager- 
ness, supplying as it does to the wayfarer and the agriculturist a 
natural railroad, which in a new country, where roads are at first 
imperfectly constructed, is of great benefit. Snow usually disap- 
pears finally in Lower Canada about the middle of April, and 



CANADA. 113 



appears about the beginning of December. In "Western Canada, 
north of the 44th parallel of latitude, snow usually disappears 
three weeks sooner than in Lower Canada, while south of that 
parallel there is rarely sufficient snow to permit of over two of 
three days sleighing in winter. As the great lumber region lies 
north of the parallel, the snow is of great service in enabling the 
trees after beina: felled to be drawn out to the streams down 
which they are in spring to be floated. The snow also acts use- 
fully on the soil, being a natural fertiliser, and hence Lower Can- 
ada, while before the visit of the Hessian fly scourge, now dis- 
appearing, it produced wheat largely, is especially adapted to the 
growth of root crops. 

The heat of the climate has also been much exaggerated. I 
here give, for the various months, the monthly means of tempera- 
ture at Montreal and Greenwich : 

Montreal. Greenwich. 

January 18.58 37.79 

February 16.08 37-06 

March 28.96 42.20 

April 41.04 47.10 

May 56.12 53.64 

June 68.97 60.03 

July 71.36 61.43 

August 71.04 61.19 

September 58.50 56.99 

October. 44.53 49.33 

November 32.36 44.57 

December 18.50 39.97 

The mean temperature of the month of July at Montreal during 
four years was 71.36, while at Greenwich the mean of seven years 
was 61.43. The mean highest temperature at Montreal in July 
was 97.70, at Toronto 88.28, at Greenwich 85.37. The mean 
lowest temperature at Montreal in July was 53.25, at Toronto 
42.86, and at Greenwich 45.80. 

The prevailing winds of Canada are stated, by a writer on 
Canada, to be the south-west, the north-east and north-west. The 
south-west, which sweeps down the valley of the St. Lawrence, 
over the rivers and great lakes, for about two-thirds of the 
summer season, carries with it a portion of the warmth of the 
region of the Gulf of Mexico and the valley of the Missis- 
sippi. The north-east wind is damp and chilly. The north-west 
wind, which is most frequent in winter, is dry, cold and elastic. 
The most sudden changes of wind are to the north-west, followed 
by weather clear and cold for the season. The heaviest storms of 
rain and deepest falls of snow are usually accompanied by easterly 



114 CANADA. 

winds. The south-east wind is soft, thawy and rainy. The wind 
blows less frequently from the west and south, and still more sel- 
dom from due north. 

The climate of Canada is favorable to health and longevity. In 
1851 there were, in Lower Canada, over 100 years of age, 38 per- 
sons ; between 90 and 100 years, 417 ; between 80 and 90, 3030 ; 
between 70 and 80, 11,084 ; between 60 and 70, 24,095. 

In Upper Canada, in the same year, there were, over 100 years 
of age, 20 persons ; between 70 and 80, 7156 ; between 60 and 70, 
20,266 ; so that the balance is in favor of the Lower Province as 
regards the longevity of its inhabitants, and is doubtless to be 
referred to the greater comparative dryness of the atmosphere. 

In Lower Canada, it may be further stated, that melons ripen 
freely in the open air; plums and pears grow abundantly, and apples 
attain a peculiar degree of excellence, the apples of the Island of 
Montreal being especially famed. Peaches and grapes also ripen 
freely with the aid only of glass. On the whole it may be safely 
asserted that while the Province presents great diversities of cli- 
mate, yet the general character of its climate is such as to con- 
duce both to the maintenance of the physical health of the inhabi- 
tants of the Province, and also to the promotion of the growth of 
the cereal and other natural products of the fertile soil of Canada. 



And now, in conclusion, the writer, on reviewing the motives 
which have animated him in this effort, and on looking back to the 
hours during which, in the intervals of release from his ordinary 
engagements, he has prepared the statements of this Treatise, is 
persuaded that he cannot better take leave of his readers than by 
assuring them that the assertions contained in the foregoing pages 
have not been rashly ventured, but have been deliberately penned 
in the spirit of that patriotism which should lead every Canadian to 
appreciate the sentiments contained in, and to echo the following 
words of another writer whose work has been elsewhere already 
quoted from, namely, that "it is equally a matter of individual and 
national importance that every earnest well-wisher of Canada should 
contribute his mite to elevate the industry of the country, and extend 
the knowledge of her capabilities to the tens of thousands across the 
seas, who would willingly and even joyfully make this fertile Bri- 
tish Province their home, had they confidence in its climate, its 
soil, its great resources," and I add, in its political liberty, its edu- 
cational advantages and religious privileges, and in the greatness 
of that future to which this noble Province it surely and steadily 



rising. 



APPENDIX. 



Table extracted from the Report on Emigration, published by the House of 

Assembly. 

1854. 

ROUTES, DISTANCES, AND RATES OF PASSAGE. 

From Quebec to Montreal. — 180 miles, by steamers, every day, at rive 

o'clock; through in 14 hours. 

Steerage. Cabin. 

By the Royal Mail Packets 3s. Stg. 3s. 9d. Cy. 14s. Stg. 17s. 6d. Cy. 

EyTait'sLinc 3s. " 3s. 9d. " 10s. " 12s. 6d. (£ 



From Montreal to Western Canada. — Daily by the Royal Mail Line 
Steamer, at 9 o'clock A. M,, or by Railroad to Lachine, at 12 o'clock. 

From Montreal to — _._ . _ 

Distances. Deck Fare. Cabin Fare. 

Cornwall.. 78 Miles. 5s. Stg. 6s. 3d. Cy. lis. Stg. 13s. 9d. Cy, 

S^Sv }IU " 6s. « 7s. 6d. " Us." 17s. 6d. " 

Brockville 139.) „ , .. 

Kingston 189 " 8s. " 10s. Od. " 20s. 25s. Od. 

gobWg 292") „ 12 « 15s . d. " 28s. " 35s. Od. " 

Port Hope 298i 

Bond Head 313] « 14 « 175. 6d. " 34s. " 42s. 6d. " 

Darlmcton 31/3 

Whitby 337~) ££ . « 

Toronto 367 [■ " 16s. " 20s. Od. " 36s. " 45s. Od. " 

Hamilton 410.) 

Detroit 596 " 24s. " 30s. Od. . " 56s. " $14 

Chicago 874 " 32s. " 40s. Od. " 80s. " $20 

Passengers by this line tranship at Kingston to the Lake Steamers, and 
at Toronto for Buffalo. 

Daily by the American Line Steamer, at 1 o'clock A. M. 
From Montreal to— 

Distances. Deck Fare. Cabin Fare. 

Ogdensburg 138 Miles. 6s. Stg. 7s. 6d. Cy. 14s. Stg. 17s. 6d. Cy 

Cape Vincent 190 " Ss. " 10s. Od. " 20s. " 25s. Od. " 

Socket's Harbour 212 " 12s. " 15s. Od. " 24s. " 30s. Od. " 

Oswego 286 " 14s. " 17s. 6d. " 26s. " S2s. 6d. " 

Rochester 349") « ,- « „- ftrl « 5 3 °s. " 37s. 6d. " 

Lewiston 436/ 16s * 20s. Ott. | 34s< « 42s. 6d. " 

Buffalo 467 " 20s. " 25s. Od. " SSs. " 47s. 6d. " 

Cleveland 661 " 26s. " 32s. 6d. " 

Sandusky 721 " 28s. " 35s. Od. " 

Toledo and Monroe.. 975 " 2Ss. " 35s. Od. " 

Passengers by this line tranship at Ogdensburg to the Lake Steamers for 
Oswego and Lewiston. 

The Passengers for both lines embark at the Canal Basin, Montreal. 

Steerage Passage from Quebec to Hamilton 23s. 9d„ 

Buffalo 28s. 9<L 



116 APPENDIX. 

IFeom Hamilton to the "Western States, by the Great Western Rail- 
road. — The new short route to the West. — Trains leave Hamilton 
daily for Detroit, connecting at that City with the Michigan Central 
Railroad for Chicago. 

Distances. 

ToDundas 6 Miles. 

Flamboro' 9 " 

Paris 20 " 

Woodstock. 48 " 

Ingersol 47 " 

London 76 " 

Eckford 96 " 

Chatham HO " 

"Windsor ") 1Cfl « 

Detroit, Michigan j xw> 
Chicago, Illinois 465 " 

Steamers leave Chicago daily for Milwaukie and all other Ports on Lake Michigan. 

Emigrants, on arriving at Chicago, if proceeding further, will, on application to Mr. 
H. J. Spalding, Agent of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, receive correct 
advice and direction as to route. 

Passengers for the western parts of the TJisited States of New York, Ohio, Pennsyl- 
vania, and Indiana, must take the route via Buffalo. 

Ottawa River and Rideau Canal. — From Montreal to By town and places 

on the Rideau Canal, by steam every evening, by Robertson, Jones <fc 

Co.'s Line. 

From Montreal to Carillon. 
Grenville,. 





Emigrant Train. 


First Class Train 




Os. 

1 


6d. 

< 


Stg. 


0s. 


7id Cy. 


Is. Od. Stg 

cc cc 


Is. 3d. Cy. 

CC ti 


2s 


Od. 


« 


2s. 


6cl. " 


3s. 8d. 


cc 


4s. 6d. 


<i 


3s 


Od. 


" 


3s 


9d. " 


5s. Od. 


cc 


6s. 3d. 


ii 


3s. 


fid. 


u 


4s. 


4kl. " 


7s. Od. 


cc 


8s. 9d. 


(( 


4s. 


9d. 


it 


6s. 


Od. " 


9s. Od. 


cc 


13s. 3d. 


II 


6s 


Od. 


ft 


7s. 6d. " 


14s. Od. 


cc 


17s. 6d. 


ft 


7s 


Od. 


« 


8s 


9d. " 


CC 


cc 


cc 


cc 


8s 


Od. 


CC 


10s. 


Od. " 


20s. Od. 


cc 


25s. Od. 


CC 


16s 


.Od. 


cc 


20s. Od. " 


44s. Od. 


cc 


55s. Od. 


it 



L'Orignal,.. 

By town, 

Kemptville, ^„ f -jg 157^ 



Distances. 


: 


Deck 


Passengers. 


54 Miles. 


2s. 


Stg. 


2s. 6d. Cv. 


66 " 


3s. 




3s. 9d. " 


73 " 


3s. 


cc 


3s. 9d. " 


129 " 


4s. 


cc 


5s. Od. " 



Merrickville, £175 

1 » 



Smith's Falls, I qIOO 

Oliver's Ferry 
Isthmus, 



Jones' Falls,. 
Kingston, 



3 199 Y " 6s. " 7s. 6d. 

£216 



^226 

1^258. 



Passengers proceeding to Perth, Lanark, or any of the adjoining settlements 
should land at Oliver's Ferry, 7 miles from Perth. 



ROUTE TO THE EASTERN PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Emigrants proceeding to any of the following States of the American Union, 

viz : — Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, 

.New York and Pennsylvania, — By the Champlain and St. Lawrence 

Railroad Company, — Mr. W. A. Merry, Secy. ; Oifice opposite the 

Steamboat Landing, Montreal. 

Emigrant Train. 

From Montreal to Burlington 8s. Od. Stg. 10s. Od. Cy. 

"Whitehall „ 12s. Od. " 15s. Od. " 

" " Troy 18s. Od. " 22s. 6d. " 

f " New York, 19s. Od. " 23s. 9d. " 

" " Boston 2Gs. Od. " 32s" 6d. " 

Trains of the above Company leave Montreal daily. 

From Toronto, Steamers leave daily for Port Credit, 15 miles ; Oakville, 25 miles -, 
"Wellington Square, 37 miles ; Hamilton, 43 miles ; also Port Dalhousie on the entrance 
of the Welland Canal, Niagara, Queenston and Lewiston.— Passage, 3s. 9d. 

Steamers leave Kingston daily for the Bay of Quint6 n d the River Trent, calling 
.at Picton, Adolphustown, Belleville, and other landing p ces in the Bay. 



■H 



APPENDIX. 117 

TO NEW BRUNSWICK. 

The best and most expeditious route is by the St. Lawrence and Atlantic 
Railroad, from Montreal to Portland — thence by Steamer, which leaves 
for St. John's, N. B., every Monday and Wednesday evening at 8 o'clock. 

From Quebec to Montreal, bv Steamer, 3s. Stg. 3s. 9rl. Cy. 

Montreal to Portland, by Railroad,....,...,. 24s. " 30s. Od. " 

Portland to St. John's, by Steamer,... 16s. " 20s. Od. " 

43s. " 53s 9d. " 



Freight Steamers leave Montreal daily for Kingston, Toronto and Hamilton. 

Passage to Kingston, * 4s. Stg. 5s. Cy. 

Toronto and Hamilton, 8s. " 10s. " 

Throughout these passages, Children under 12 years of age are charged half-price, 
and those under 3 years are free. 

Passengers by Steamers from Quebec to Hamilton — Luggage free ; if by Railroad, 
100 lbs. is allowed to each passenger ; all over that quantity will be charged. 

The Gold Sovereign is at present worth 24s. 4d. Cy. ; the English Shilling, Is. 3d. ; 
and the English Crown-piece, 6s. Id. 

Through-tickets can be obtained on application to this office. 

A. C. BUCHANAN. 

Emigration Department, Chief Agent. 

Quebec, August, 1854 



CLASSIFICATION OF MINERAL SUBSTANCES SENT FROM CANADA TO 
THE PARIS EXHIBITION, IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY ARE 
EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 

1. Metals and tlieir ores. 

Magnetic Iron, from Marmora, Madoc, Sherbrooke, Crosby, Hull, Leeds and Portage 

du Fort. 
Specular Iron, from McNab, Wallace and Lake Nipissing. 
Bog Iron, from Houghton, Yaudreuil, Nicolas, Machiche, Pointe du Lac, St. Pierre, 

Cap de la Madeleine and Saint Yalier. 
Titaniferous Iron, from Sutton and Brome. 
Ilmenite, from Bay St. Paul and Saint Urbain. 
Blende, from Lake Superior. 

Galena, from Lake Superior, Gaspe", Ramsay and Lansdowne. 
Copper Ore, from Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Inverness. 
Native Copper, from Lake Superior. 

Auro-Argentiferous and Argentiferous Pyrites, from the Eastern Townships. 
Nickel, from Lakes Huron, Superior and Daillebout. 
Silver, Native, from Lake Superior. 
Gold, Native, from Riviere du Loup, Fief St. Charles, Aubert de l'Isle, Etchemin, 

River Chaudiere, River Famine, and other neighbouring places. 
Platinum, from Fief St. Charles. 
Iridosmine, from Fief St. Charles. 
Auriferous Pyrites, from La Beauce. 
Argentiferous Pyrites, from La Beauce. 
Arsenical Pyrites, from La Beauce. 

2. Minerals requiring chemical operations to fit them for use. 
Uran Ochre, from Madoc. 
Chromic Iron, from Bolton and Ham. 
Cobalt, from Lake Superior. 
Wad, or Earthy Manganese, from Quebec. 

Iron Pyrites, from Lanoraie, Dautraye, and the Eastern Townships. 
Molybdenite, from Lake Superior and Somerville. 
Dolomite, from Dalhousie, Blythfield, Sutton, Brome, Shipton, St. Sylvestre and 

Point Levy. 
Magnesite, from Sutton and Bolton. 

3. Mineral Paints. 

Iron Ochre, from St. Anne near Quebec, Cap de la Madeleine, Shipton, and Pointe 

du Lac and Rvmouski. 
Barytes, from Burgess and Lansdowne. 
Phosphate of Iron, from Yaudreuil. 

4. Materials applicable to the Fine Arts. 
Lithographic Stone, from Marmora. 



118 APPENDIX. 

5. Materials applicable to Jetuellry* 

Agates, from Lake Superior and the North Shore. 
Labradorite, from Grenville. 
Jasper, from Lake Huron. 
Ribboned Chert, from Lake Superior. 
Perthite, from Bathurst. 
Ruby, from Burgess. 

6. Refractory Materials 
Soapstone (compact talc,) from Bolton and Potton. 
Mica, from Grenville. 
Plumbago, from Grenville and Burgess, 
White Sandstone, from St. Maurice. 
Asbestus, from Daihousie and Kamouraska. 

7. Mineral Manures. 
Phosphate of Lime, from Perth. 
Gypsum, from Brantford and Oneida. 
Shell Marl, from Ottawa, Sheuleld, Montreal and Stanstead. 

8. Grinding and Polishing Materials. 

"Whetstones, from Madoc, Eastern Townships. 
Canadian Tripoli, from Laval. 

9. Materials employed in the construction of buildings-. 
Slates, from the Eastern Townships. 

White Granite, from Hereford, Barnston, St. Joseph and Nicolet. 
Pseudo-granite, from Nicolet and Lorette. 
Sandstone, from Ramsay, Pembroke and St. Maurice. 
Calcareous Sandstone, from Lauzon and Chaudiere. 
Limestone, from Marmora, McNab, The Chats, Gloucester, Montreal, Packenham and 

Caughnawaga. 
Trap, from St. llochs. 
Marble, from Oxford, Lake Brompton, Dudswell, Saint Armand, Saint Lin, McNab 

and Packenham. 
Hydraulic Limestone, from Thorold, Quebec, Oneida, Nepean and Brantford. 
Building Bricks, from divers places. 

10. Combustible Materials. 
Peat, from Longueuil and Sheffield. 

Asphalt, from Enniskillen. 

11. Miscellaneous Minerals. 

Aerolite, found at Madoc, forming a mass of iron with 6'35 per cent, of Nickel, weigh* 
ing 370 lbs. 

Canada is indebted to its experienced geologist, Mr. Logan, for the greater part of 
this collection of our minerals. The names of the localities mentioned in the above 
list only shew the places which have furnished the specimens exhibited ; but it must 
not be inferred from this, that these places only, furnish those materials. The greater 
part of these mineral substances are abundantly distributed over the whole surface 
of the country. 



CLASSIFICATION OP THE DIFFERENT VARIETIES OP CANADIAN WOODS. 

SPECIMENS WHEREOF FORM THE CANADIAN COLLECTION FOR 

THE PARIS EXHIBITION. 

1. Magnoliace<z. 

White-wood, so called in this country. (Liriodendron tulipifera. Linn.) 

2. Tiliacece. 
Bass-wood. (Tilia Americana. Linnee.) 

3. Anacardiacece. 
Sumac. (Rhus typhina, Linnee.) 

4. Aceracece, 

Sugar Maple, (Acer saccharinum, Linnee.) 

Rock Maple, " " 

Curled Maple, 

Birds-eye Maple, " " 

Soft Maple. (Acer dasycarpum. Ehrhart.) 

5. Amygdalece. 
Wild Yellow Plum. (Prunus Americana. Marshall.) 
Red Cherry. (Cerasus Pennsylvanica. Loisel.) 
Black Cherry. (Cerasus serotina. De Candolle.) 
Choke Cherry. (Cerasus Virginiana. De Candolle.) 



APPENDIX. 119 

6. Cornacece. 
Cornel, flowering dogwood. (Cornus florida. Linnee.) 

7. Pomacece. 

Dotted or Apple Thorn. (Crataegus punctata. Jacquin.) 

Red Thorn. (Crataegus coccinea. Linnee.) 

"White Thorn. (Crataegus crus Galli. Linnee.) 

Mountain Ash. (Pyrus Americana. De Candolle.) 

June or Service berry. (Amelanchicr Canadensis. Torrey and Gray.) 

8. FraxinecB. 
White Ash. (Praxinus Americana. Linn.) 
Black Ash. (Praxinus Sambucifolia. Lambert.) 
Rock Ash. (Praxinus Pubescens. Walter.) 
Rim Ash. (Praxinus Juglandifolia. Lambert.) 

9. Lauraceae. 
Sassafras. (Sassafras Officinale. Von Esenbeck.) 

10. Uhnacece. 
White Elm. (TJlmus Americana. Linn.) 

Red cr Slippery Elm. (Ulmus Pulva. Michaux.) 
Rock Elm. (Uhnus Racemosa. Thomas.) 
Gray Elm. ( ) 

11. Juglandacece, 
Butternut. ( Juglans Cinerea. Linn.) 

Black "Walnut. (Juglans Nigra. Linn.) 

Soft "Walnut. 

Shell Bark Hickory. (Carya Alba. Nuttal.) 

Smooth Bark Hickory. ( Tormentosa. Nuttal.) 

Pignut. ( " Glabra Torney.) 

Bittfcrnut. ( " Amara. Nuttal.) 

12. Cupuliferece. 
"White Oak. (Quercus Alba. Linn.) 
Swamp White Oak. ( " Bicolor. Willd.) 
Red Oak. ( " Rubra. Linn.) 
Black Oak. ( " Nigra. Linn.) 
Chesnut. (Castanea Vesca. Linn.) 

"White Beech. (Fagus Ferruginea. Aiton.) 

Blue Beech, Horn-Beam. (Carpinus Americana. Michaux.) 

Iron "Wood. (Ostrya Virginica. WUId.) 

13. Betulacece. 

Paper or Canoe Birch. (Betula Papyracca. Aiton.) 
Yellow Birch. ( " Excelsa. Aiton.) 

Cherry ±>irch. ( " Lenta. Linn.) 

Black Birch. ( " Nigra. Linn.) 

Alder. (Alnus Incarna. Willd.) 

14. Salicacece. 
Black "Willow. (Salix Nigra. Marshall.) 

Aspen Poplar. (Populus Trcmulo'ides. Michaux.) 

Large-toothed Aspen. ( ; ' Grandidentata. Michaux.) 

Balm of Gilead. ( . " Balsamifera. Linn.) 

Cotton-wood, Necklace Poplar. (Popidus Monilifera. Aiton.) 

15. Plantanacece. 
Button-wood, American Sycamore. (Plantanus Occidentalis. Linn,) 

16. Coniferece. 
Pitch Pine. (Pinus Rigida. Miller.) 
Red Pine. ( " Resinosa. Aiton.) 
Yellow Pine. ( " Mitis. Michaux.) 
White or Weymouth Pine. (Pinus Strobus. Linn.) 
Balsam Fir. (Abies Balsamea. Marshall.) 
Hemlock Spruce. ( " Canadensis. Michaux,) 

White Spruce. ( " Alba. Michaux.) 

Black Spruce. ( " Nigra. Poiret.) 

American Larch, Tamarack. (Larix Americana. Michaux.) 
White Cedar. (Thuya Occidentalis. Linn.) 
Red Cedar, Savin. ( Juniperus Virginiana. Linn.) 

These woods are found in abundance in all our forests, with very few exceptions J 
they are, with respect to the soil proper to each, subject to the same conditions as in 
other countries. The only remark of a general nature which we may here make 
is, that the families of juglandacece and cupuliferece are more particularly the pro- 
duce of the western section of the Province, while those of the coniferece and 
aceracece are more particularly that of the eastern section. 



fH0ixtreaI : 

PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL AT HIS STEAM-PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT, 

ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 

1855. 



lil 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





017 299 614 






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